


Myosotis Alpestris (Forget-Me-Not)

by verdant_calamity



Category: DreamSMP, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: (thats a mystery tool we’ll use later), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Domestic Fluff, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gaslighting, Meaningful Eye Contact, Muteness, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Post-Manberg-Pogtopia War on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Shock, Unreliable Narrator, be safe kids read the tags, descriptions of blood but nothing major, found family adjascent, im so bad at tagging I’m sorry for the tag wall, near-death-experiences hugs, tender hand-holding, uhhh how do tag, yeah thats right theres fluff here too its not all angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:54:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 44,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28731516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verdant_calamity/pseuds/verdant_calamity
Summary: When The Blade opened his door at an ungodly hour of the night he expected Tommy to be on the other side with a loud greeting and hands open for new gear to destroy. Maybe, if the universe smiled upon him, Phil would be stopping by to catch up.He didn't expect a woman to cough up a glob of blood on his doorstep and promptly collapse.(Or a very slightly canon-divergent reader-insert which explore's Techno's habit of taking in strays that betray him--and one that sticks around)
Relationships: Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF)/Original Female Character(s), Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF)/Reader, Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF)/You
Comments: 747
Kudos: 1195





	1. The Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y’all! I’ve been desperate for some good ol fanfic on Techno’s character from the SMP and decided I’d write some myself! For reference, I'd imagined Techno in this to look like @TheBlogWithoutAName on twitter depicts him--which I simp for. hard.

When The Blade opened his door at an ungodly hour of the night he expected Tommy to be on the other side with a loud greeting and hands open for new gear to destroy. Maybe, if the universe smiled upon him, Phil would be stopping by to catch up. 

He didn't expect a woman to cough up a glob of blood on his doorstep and promptly collapse. 

For a moment he stood there, genuinely surprised for the first time since _____. Very briefly he considered that she might be a spy sent to weaken him, and in that case he considered leaving her to bleed out in the snow until the zombies found her. 

But as capable of violence as he was, he wasn't a monster. 

He gathered the stranger up with a soft sigh and prayed that he would not regret taking in another stray. She didn't stir as he set her in his bed, and stayed where he left her when he returned from retrieving a potion of regeneration and some bread. 

At least his bedding was red, he thought grimly as he observed her sorry shape. A nasty gash along her collarbone down across her ribcage, deep enough that it would scar even with his alchemy. Multiple bruises and minor cuts in her clothes. Her right eye swelled shut and sticky with dried blood down the side of her face from a wound hidden somewhere in her hair. A bolt in her side that rose with each shallow breath; it was a miracle she hadn't landed on it when she collapsed.

Techno gingerly rolled her on her side to check for any more pressing injuries and—finding none—decided to deal with the arrow first. There's no easy way to care for an arrow wound, even with his potions. You see, arrows are barbed for a reason: removing them means cutting them out means more bloodloss. 

Luckily for her (it's all relative, isn't it?) the bolt wasn't terribly deep. He took a deep breath before pulling it out carefully as he could, unfazed by the dribble of blood that followed. He pressed an extra shirt against the wound, packing it in tightly to staunch the healing—if he tried to use a healing pot it would just be washed out with the blood and, worst case scenario, heal her skin and not the damage underneath. 

A bloodstained hand seized his wrist. 

He snapped over, meeting a hazy one-eyed glare from the woman. Her grip tightened, but she was obviously weak from blood loss and pain. C'mon Techno, comfort her before she does something stupid. "Uhhhh, don't freak out." Nice job.

She blinked at him for a moment before relaxing her grip and leaning back. Her eyes did not leave him for a moment as he lifted the shirt to check her wound. The bleeding had slowed enough. 

He grabbed the potion from his inventory and held it in her view. "This is a healing potion. I'm going to pour it on this because I'm pretty sure you don't want to be stuck like this for weeks until it heals with a high probability of infection. It'll hurt at first."

A moment of heavy silence passed as she flicked her gaze from his hand to his face, watching carefully for a lie or any malevolence. Finding none, she nodded once. The effort seemed to exhaust what energy she had left.

He let out a quiet breath and turned back to his work, pouring the potion a bit at a time and wiping away the excess between. She was very, very lucky to end up on his doorstep of all people, who had the resources and the knowledge to help. Suspiciously lucky. He stole a glance at her out of the corner of his eye, expecting to be greeted by the same watchful glare but instead finding her unconscious again. Probably for the best. 

He finished with her side and moved to her collarbone. Hesitantly, he peeled back her tunic at the edges of the wounds to apply the potion, trying to respect her as much as possible. His hands came away slick with warm blood, but the wound looked far worse than it was. 

With her death delayed for the moment, he set aside the empty bottles and left to continue his preparations. She'd still be there when he was done. Probably.


	2. Cautious Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d like to just say that I’m not incredibly knowledgeable on the events of the SMP; I know the basics of what’s happened, but until I go through every Techno VOD there might be some inconsistencies/errors. Please let me know if you find any!

When you woke up, you knew two things:

One, that you couldn’t move a muscle without your body protesting vehemently. Two, that you had no clue where you were, and that needed to change.

As you sat up in the unfamiliar bed, noting distantly that you were caked with blood, sweat and dirt, your gaze landed on a pile of neatly folded clothes. Thankfully, you still had the iron sword from before in your inventory, and nothing was attacking you at the moment which was... a relief. 

The room was sparse but bright, with rows of books circling a dark stone table draped with cloth, that stood below a floating book. The sight was vaguely familiar, but you were distracted from that thought by the scent of iron, heady and dull, which burned your nose.

You ran a hand over the newest pink the scar on your torso, not really registering the smoothed skin. Memories of the night resurfaced—running for your life, the shouts of pillagers on your heels, fighting and pain, the distant light of a settlement, bone-aching cold, and then the void—

Your chest still ached from when you got thrown by the ravager, your breath stuttering in your right lung, your leg burning as you slammed into a tree. And your head, fuck it hurt. All of you hurt, really. Felt like a you got hit by a building. Still, you should be in much worse condition.

You should be dead.

You glanced at the ladder, remembering dark red eyes, foreign hands, the all-consuming burn of a healing potion before darkness again. 

As if on cue, the man ascended the ladder, surprisingly quiet considering he looked at least six feet tall and carried himself with lean strength. That didn't bode well if you needed to fight, not in your condition. When the man turned around he stopped short, raising his hands to show them empty. Your blade, leveled against his chest as it was, sent a clear message.

Your arm trembled ever-so-gently. You prayed he didn’t notice.

If did, he didn’t show it. His bloodred stare was very deliberately neutral as he spoke: “Oh hey, didn't think you'd be up. Before you start to freak out and uh, attack me,” his gaze dropped to the sword and back to your face, “...I'm not going to hurt you. If I was, I wouldn't have used two healing pots on you, probably three here in a bit. They're not cheap." 

You hesitated, tempted to simply keep him there while you found away to escape, but you weren’t stupid. Your muscles already wailed just from standing motionless in your fighting stance. If you actually had to defend yourself..? Your odds were slim.

Perhaps he noticed your glare loosen just a smidge, because he straightened and tried for an awkward smile. Sharp canines poked out from under his lips. “I uh, you probably noticed but there's some clothes there. I have a bathtub if you want to get clean first. Also, food and a healing potion for you to drink. When you're ready."

You took a moment to absorb the sudden information. Finding him devoid of deception and surprisingly calm, you lowered your sword. Bath, yeah—that sounded okay. A hesitant nod later, he cleared his throat and directed his attention at the door on the other side of the room. "It's uh, it's through there. Take your time, don't worry about using the hot water. Yell if you need something, if you... do yell. Or talk at all. Oh, and there’s soap and towels in the chest.”

You waited for him to excuse himself down the ladder before grabbing the spare clothes and hobbling into the bathroom. As the tub filled up with steamy water, you shed your ruined clothes and observed yourself in the tall mirror. Bruises bloomed like sickly stormclouds under your skin, interspersed with cuts and scrapes from the fighting. Once more your attention was drawn to the puckered flesh at your side, and the long scar across your torso. 

You were covered in scars, some big and some small, some faded and others relatively fresh—but these newest ones were the only ones you could remember getting. Everything before the forest was... hazy. 

The tub filled up quickly, and you wasted no time submerging yourself in the water. The sword stayed close by. Almost instantly you could feel your muscles melt, some of the soreness washing away as you soaked. The water was almost too hot, but it felt fantastic as you scrubbed your skin free of grime and blood. By the time you reluctantly removed yourself from the tub and all it’s warmth, the water was a rusty red.

You shivered, dripping water all over the cool stone floor as you retrieved the extra clothes. It was all oversized for you, so you rolled the pants up and tucked the extra fabric into your boots, pulled the belt as tight as you could (it still fell past your waist to settle on your hips), and left the shirt to hang to your thighs. 

You straightened yourself, but you’d gone no further than a step before your vision clouded with black spots. Woozy, you grabbed the edge of the tub and took several deep breaths as you blinked away the spots. In, out, repeat. Something felt wrong in the right side of your chest; not only was it painful but also suffocating, like you couldn’t really get air in.

You sat on the edge of the tub for a moment to collect your energy, your mood soured by exhaustion. Your grip on the rim tightened at your state, teeth grinding in frustration. Your glared at the door, impossibly far away. Just one step in front of the other. 

You distracted yourself from the pain by thinking. About anything really. Anything other than the sharp throb in your skull—

Focus. 

You didn’t remember much about last night, and even less about your life before that. A little concerning, but at least you were alive and mostly in one piece. You had this stranger to thank for that. Your memories of this place were, surprisingly enough, the most pleasant you had. 

You considered the stranger. Why had he saved you, who he didn’t know and who had nothing to offer? There were only two explanations: either he was generous to the point of foolishness, or he had ulterior motives. You resolved to be extremely cautious of this stranger, but like he said: if he saved you last night, you weren’t in any immediate danger.

By some miracle, you made it to the door and stayed upright when you stepped through. The man was busy changing the bedding, but he noticed your presence immediately. "Now's a good time for that potion. Some food too, if you're up for it."

Cautious trust, you reminded yourself. You nodded, noting him relax a smidge. He must’ve been expecting more resistance, but at this point you’re barely holding yourself up, and trying to look stronger than you are at the moment sapped what energy you had left. 

He left again, probably to grab the food and potion (or maybe a sword, maybe he’s going to come back and—). You shook away the thought as you settled on the bed with a quiet huff. 

He came back quickly enough with a loaf of bread, a smear of butter and a knife balanced on a plate. You raised a brow at that, sparing a glance up at him as he held it out to you. Cautiously, you took the plate and settled it in your lap. He set the potion on a table next to the bed and stepped back to give you space. 

You watched his movement out of the corner of your eye as he sat in a plush chair, one ankle crossed over the other knee and a book balanced upon both. You couldn’t make out the title. 

The food wouldn’t be poisoned if he already helped you this much, right? You picked up the butter knife, eying his reaction: he licked the tip of his finger and turned the page of the book. Your attention returned to the knife, silver, with a decorative handle of vines and flowers. This was a show of trust, you realized. He had handed you a weapon and trusted you not to literally stab him in the back with it.

You hoped you wouldn’t have to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y’all! I know these chapters are a little short but just bear with me, it’ll get better. Will we start to see people soon? Will the plot thicken? Who knows! If you have any constructive criticism or thoughts in general on this chapter, let me know! Comments give me life :D


	3. A Friendly Face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's... 5:50 am and I haven't slept yet. Safe to say I'm hyperfixating a smidge lol. This is taking place roughly between the L'Manburg-Pogtopia War and Techno's Execution if anybody was curious! I think there's a few inconsistences in the previous chapter so I'll go through and fix that tomorrow. This chapter is quite a bit longer than the last, hope y'all enjoy :3
> 
> oh also I haven't proofread this for any errors and no editing. we die like men

The bread and butter were gone in minutes—you hadn't realized how hungry you were until the food was in front of you. The stranger seemed unbothered by your eating, but when you twirled the butterknife idly you caught him watching. For a moment you just stared at each other. A moment stretched into two, three, four. You noticed his crown, his blue-grey armor and crimson cloak, the way he carried himself proudly. As you observed all this you kept fidgeting with the knife. He finally broke the staring contest by retrieving the healing potion to pass you, then returned to his seat.

"Drink that. It'll heal what I missed yesterday." Ah, so you hadn't pain-hallucinated him healing you. You uncorked the bottle and wafted it first, watching for his reaction. Smelling nothing amiss and finding no ill will on his face, you took a small sip. It tasted... indescribable, but distantly familiar. Perhaps comforting was the best word. You had the distinct feeling that you'd tasted this before. 

You shrugged to yourself and chugged the rest. By the time you polished off the bottle and set it aside, you felt light and heady, like lead weights had been lifted off your shoulders. Your aches faded in soft waves, your sore muscles relaxing one fiber at a time. You sucked in a gulp of air when the pressure on your chest finally lifted, and the bruises on your arms smoothed away before your eyes.

The man took the empty bottle from beside you and gave you a once-over for any other injuries. He seemed satisfied with what he found—or rather what he didn't find—because he left to clean up the bottle and plate without a word.

By the time his crown disappeared down the hatch you were already halfway to the bathroom, stumbling a little. You were still tired, exhausted really, but you stood a chance against him if worst came to pass. You retrieved your sword from beside the tub (you had no idea how you'd forgotten it so easily) and sheathed it at your back as you returned to the bedroom. The dizziness was mostly gone now.

He stood between you and the ladder, waiting, fidgeting, with an expression that wasn't unkind. "Look, I'm not gonna stop you if you want to leave, but—" You could feel your hackles raise; of course there was a catch. He held up his hands placatingly as he continued, "—but it's almost dark outside and soon there's going to be monsters everywhere. And it's cold because... tundra."

He was right; both of you knew it. A few heartbeats of deliberation later, you carefully took off the blade and set it by the bed, within lunging distance. The man gestured to the mattress as he sat back down. You settled on the bed but not without first narrowing your eyes at him—he better not get used to ordering you around.

"You don't have to answer, obviously, but I uh, have a few questions." He crossed his legs, sizing you up from his chair.

You crossed your arms, but nodded once in acceptance.

"O-kay. How about an easy one to start: what's your name?"

You shifted uncomfortably under his stare as he waited for an answer you couldn't provide. It seemed to dawn on him after a moment. He quirked a brow. "Do you... do you not know?"

The glare you shot his way was scathing, but held no real heat. You hated the prickle of embarrassment that crept along your back at not knowing something so simple.

He must've been better at reading body language than you gave him credit for because he rushed to soothe your pride. "Hey, it's fine. I forget stuff all the time. If you're not going to stick around—which, you seemed in a pretty big hurry to leave earlier—then it's not important to know."

It was your turn to raise a brow; he said that like staying was an option. To be completely honest you had no idea where you would go when you left; you knew next to nothing about this world, your only possessions were a nearly-broken iron sword and a pair of worn boots, and you were surrounded by snowy tundra.

"You still with me?"

Your attention snapped back to him from a distant spot on the wall. He at least looked concerned, but you didn't really register the pinch of his brow as you were too busy forgetting to breathe. "I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but do you talk?"

The question pulled you out of your daze. You leveled him with a dry stare, letting the silence speak for you. Your chest definitely didn't warm a little when the effort earned you a chuckle. Guess the potion was still going strong.

"So you don't have a name, you don't talk, and you came from nowhere. You're like an enigma onion. Or an enigma wrap."

Was that supposed to be a joke? You tilted your head and regarded him, finding his attempt vaguely endearing. The silence wasn't uncomfortable as you took the time to notice his appearance. He was objectively pretty, from his long silky hair to his rose-toned skin. He had scars like you, even some on his face. Didn't have much of an effect on you, not with much more pressing issues at hand like, I dunno, having no memories of your past or your identity and no plan moving forward and nowhere to go—

He cleared his throat, obviously squirming under your distant stare. If you weren't dead tired you might have felt at least a little bad. Instead you simply relaxed on the mattress by bringing both feet up to sit criss-cross.

"Moving on, I guess. If you don't remember your name, where did you come from?"

You pointed at the wall in the general direction you'd stumbled the night before. The sun was setting that way, bathing the room and your savior in soft crimson light. He hummed for a moment, then turned his attention back to you. "Do you remember what happened to you? Or anything before that?"

A moment of hesitation, then a shake of your head. Frustration bubbled up in your gut; as hard as you tried to recall anything before the forest you could only dredge up a hazy darkness. Your head already hurt when you woke up though, you knew that much. With another contemplative hum, he stood up and sent a reassuring smile your way, his crown catching the dying sun's rays. "Thank you. I'd say this was a nice conversation but it did feel a little one-sided." He paused, waiting for your reaction.

You smiled, just barely.

His grin grew a fraction. "Get some rest, feel free to check out any of those books if you're bored." You glanced at the library, then back to him. "Just uh, knock or something if you need me."

He waited for your answering nod before he took his leave.

Another few seconds passed by as you skimmed your gaze along the room, trying to soothe an inescapable, nagging feeling that something was off. You approached the bookshelves, running your fingertips along the spines, dragging your attention around the small u-shaped library. Purely by chance, you noticed one book that had been slightly misplaced on the top shelf, bound in red leather with "The Republic" stamped on the spine in gold. You rose on your toes to reach it, but your eyes landed instead on a barrel hidden in the wall above and behind the bookshelf. Oh?

You bit your lip, torn between respecting the stranger who saved you—who could also kill you if he had a change of heart—and an insatiable, rampant curiosity budding in your mind.

...What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right?

You pulled his chair over as quietly as possible and crawled up on it to reach over the shelf to the barrel. You had expected papers, heirlooms or other sentimental items—what greeted you nearly knocked the breath out of your lungs. Netherite ingots, golden apples, literal blocks of emerald, and enchanted armor and weapons to name a few. You may not remember much about your circumstances, but you knew what most of that was, and you understood suddenly that you should not be caught with your hand in this particular cookie jar. Your pulse thudded in your ears as you replaced the the lid and chair, ever-so-carefully, and only when you listened for several minutes to ensure he was still shuffling around downstairs did you relax.

The adrenaline had all but abandoned you by then, leaving you physically weary but mentally scrambling. You knew already that he was a fighter by how he carried himself. His crown and cloak also implied nobility, or at the very least wealth. But the stash in that barrel... that was power. Rather than sit there all night with your racing thoughts, you retrieved the red book from before and settled back on the bed. Even if you couldn't manage to sleep at least you wouldn't be bored.

You were maybe ten pages in when the sun sank below the horizon, and the book slipped out of your fingertips as you drifted off.

You blinked groggily up at a white ceiling, squinting to keep the morning sun out of your eyes. It only took a few moments for the last few days to catch up to you, but you were wide awake by the time you remembered the stranger's stash. You weren't sure what to do, to be completely honest, because--

Someone banged on the door downstairs. You threw off the covers and grabbed your sword, creeping over to the ladder and climbing down silently. Fuck, it was cold. The fire in the corner gave out paltry heat compared to the snow whirling outside the windows. Whoever was on the other side banged again, this time shouting a muffled: "--echno, open up! It's Philza!" You stored the possible name for your savior away for later. Now was the time for training your eye on the door with your blade readied. 

A tap on your arm drew your attention to the stranger, who put a finger over his lips and motioned for you to go back upstairs. You hesitated, but he was already approaching the door. You took a moment to curse him, but scrambled back up nonetheless. He better know what he was doing. You watched with bated breath as he opened the door to reveal a man shivering, dusted with snow.

He was blonde, over half a foot taller than you, and wore a blue-and-white striped hat and a friendly smile. "Techno! I was starting to wonder if you weren't home." He chuckled and held out his forearm, which your savior gripped tightly as he grinned back. So that was his name? Techno?

"Good to see you Phil. Come in, come in." He gestured his friend(?) inside, sparing you a glance as he closed the door. Both of them retreated further inside out of your field of vision. "How's L'Manburg doing nowadays?"

"It's been better. I'm worried about Tubbo, that the power is goin' to change him. At least he could never be as bad as Schlatt." You froze at that name, turned it over in your mind. Schlatt. Schlatt... Why was it so familiar? A shudder ran down your spine, your fingertips digging into the floorboards. Whoever it was, you had a feeling you weren't on good terms. 

'Techno' hummed. "You'd be surprised. You sure you wanna stay there? The information's invaluable, but--"

Phil cut him off. "I'm not leaving, not yet. You need me there and I'm closer to Logstedshire and Tubbo, gotta keep an eye on the boys."

Another grunt, then the whine of a kettle. Phil broke the silence with a casual: "Dream stopped by the other day." 

There was a drawn silence before Techno spoke. "What did he want?"

"He was asking 'bout a woman, said she stole something of his."

You swallowed nervously, fidgeting with the hem of your--no the stranger, Techno's--shirt. The tension was palpable, nearly thick enough to cut with your sword. 

His voice was deliberately calm when he asked: "Niki or Puffy?"

"Neither; someone new around here. He said he didn't even know her name, just gave a description and told me to let him know if I see anythin'."

It was silent for a moment, then footsteps approached you. 

You could have tried to hide under the bed or escape through the window, but you froze as a pair of crimson eyes regarded you calmly from below. Phil appeared next to him, following his stare up to you. "Found a stray, have you?"

You narrowed your eyes, looking between them before your gaze landed on Techno, a silent question. Why you were placing this much trust in him was a complete mystery, especially since he's just revealed your location to someone who's been ordered to find you. That's enough for a headache on its own. Still, when he nodded at you as if to say 'Yes, it's safe to come down,' you only hesitated a moment before you descended the ladder.

You didn't take your gaze off of the newcomer, taking in his robes, his friendly demeanor, and more importantly the sword at his side. Techno cleared his throat. "This is... well--I don't know her name. She doesn't have one." He gestured to the other man and gave you a pointed look. "This is Phil; we go way back."

You and Phil sized each other up for a moment that stretched on until he suddenly stuck his hand out with a smile. You gripped it hesitantly like you'd seen Techno do before. "So you must be the one Dream is looking for. Know anything about that?"

Truthfully you had no idea who Dream even was. You shook your head.

"Ah, she's not real talkative. She showed up a few days ago in bad shape, says she doesn't know what happened but she came from the West."

You struggled to stay anchored to the present, remembering the cold, the glint of a Netherite Pillager axe in the dark, the sticky heat of blood weeping between your fingers as you staggered in the snow. Phil snapped you to the present by gently tapping your hand before wrapping your fingers around a cup of tea. You tensed, a hairsbreadth from attacking him. Techno had gone still. You blinked down at the cup, but the tension in the room melted as you nodded once in gratitude and let out a tense breath you hadn't known you'd been holding. Maybe Phil wasn't so bad after all. 

You didn't trust him as much as Techno, but when he addressed you next, you listened. "You might want to think about staying here. If Dream is after you--and you match his description perfectly, by the way--then this might be the safest place for you."

Techno looked between the two of you. "Thank you, Phil, for volunteering me. Really I appreciate it." He deadpanned. 

Phil just chuckled and patted his shoulder. "What happened to turning over a new leaf, old friend? Leaving your violent ways behind you an' all that?" You huffed in amusement, halfhearted in your attempt to hide a smile. At this point your only options were laughter or tears; you chose the former.

He turned to you, his expression returning to its usual neutrality. "You can stay, but you're helping me if you do. I don't do freeloaders."

You shrugged, part of you surprised he even agreed. 

"So how do you feel about bees?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, a lot happened in this one. Now you've made a new friend(?), but apparently a new enemy as well. Let me know if you have any constructive criticisms, praise, or tropes you'd love to see moving forward. If you have suggestions/prompts they miiiight just make their way into future chapters. Hope y'all enjoyed <3


	4. Turtles!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was definitely a harder chapter, phew! I'm not 100% happy with it, but it's good enough and I should probably get some sleep. Thank you to everybody who's left kudos or a kind comment or bookmarked this, I seriously had no idea people would like it lol. As always, hope y'all enjoy :3

You tilted your head, blinking at Phil. What did you think of bees? They were cool, you supposed. It was cute when they bumped into things. You answered him with a noncommittal shrug.

Thankfully, Techno didn't leave you in the dark for long. "I need honey for a... project I'm working on. Phil came over to help me put together a farm for turtles and bees." He explained. Your gaze followed him as he approached a wall of chests on the other side of the room and began rummaging through them. 

"If she's staying here she'll need real clothes," Phil reminded his friend. "And gear."

It didn't sit right with you when Techno handed you a stack of golden carrots, a diamond sword, a pickaxe, a bow, arrows and a full set of iron armor. It was secondhand, sure, but you were beginning to owe him a whole lot more than you wanted--all of that on top of saving your life and offering sanctuary. You began to shake your head, but Techno shut down your protest with a deadpan look. He turned back to his chests, muttering under his breath as he opened and closed several of them, sometimes visiting the same one twice. You sipped on your tea with Phil as you waited. 

Techno returned a minute or two later with another handful of items, among them a bucket of water, an iron axe and a few torches. After another moment of thought he nodded to himself. "Good enough. We'll find a seamstress in a village soon, but for now you'll live. Unless you don't." 

Phil chortled, clapping you on the back as the three of you turned to the door. "He's joking, don't worry."

"I wasn't, but alright." 

Despite his doom-and-gloom disposition and the grey skies above, the mood stayed relatively light as you made your way to the treeline and headed east. You had the distinct feeling that you were slowing the two of them down, but if they minded the delay they didn't show it. They were busy catching up anyway. 

No longer than fifteen minutes in the snowy forest had passed before you'd begun shivering violently--despite your best efforts, you were beginning to lag behind. You cursed your shorter legs and the knee-deep snow, but this still paled in comparison to your last time in the forest. Your teeth chattered as you tried valiantly to ignore the biting cold and intrusive memories of running for your life. 

You were too busy tucking your chin against your chest with your eyes trained down at the ground to notice Techno had stopped, not until you bumped into his chest. Phil waited ahead, standing with a smile his friend couldn't see. Once again you blinked in surprise, trembling as a gust of wind shook the trees around you and cut right through your borrowed clothes to your bones. Techno stared down at you or a few silent moments before he removed his cloak with a sigh and held it out to you. This was where you drew the line--it was too generous, you decided, and pushed his hand away lightly with a shake of your head.

He didn't budge, just tilted his head and looked at you with the ghost of an amused smile. You refused to back down, frowning, undeterred by his patient gaze. The moment stretched on as your breaths clouded and slow collected on your lashes. He rolled his eyes with a quiet huff a moment before he draped the cloak over your shoulders and fastened the clasp. His knuckles brushing against your collarbone sent a shock under your skin. "You're welcome." He drawled as he turned back to Phil without a second glance and before you could protest further.

After a moment of stunned stillness, you hurried to follow behind the path he cleared in the snow. Warmth blossomed in your cheeks and stomach, but not because of the kind gesture, no way. And definitely not because of the little curl of his lips when he looked down at you, the way his eyes were just a tiny bit soft--You stomped your thoughts down with a grimace. Eugh, get it together already. You barely knew the guy and a few kind actions were apparently good enough to leave an impression. 

You determined right then and there, you had to leave those thoughts behind for the falling snow to bury. 

To keep your mind on literally anything else you counted the trees you passed. You were nearly at four hundred when the snow cleared. You caught up to Techno and Phil as you passed through a patch of grasslands and stayed nearby crossing over a stone and granite plateau that lead down to a beach. You took in the new biomes with stride, but a dozen questions bounced around in your head. You told yourself you'd ask Phil or Techno later, but knew you'd likely forget in a few minutes anyway. Maybe on the way back.

There weren't any turtles on the beach, but the two men stopped anyway to discuss the best method of transporting them back to Techno's base once you did find them. They payed you little mind as you approached the water. A pod of dolphins danced near the surface a ways out, circling a school of fish. At the sea floor you could barely make out a forest of kelp and seagrass swaying languidly with the current. You squinted to make out something moving among the foliage. It looked at first glance like a person, but people didn't take strolls on the ocean floor, they didn't have decaying blue flesh, and they definitely didn't have glowing eyes. You stepped back and drew Techno's cloak tighter around yourself with a shudder.

Naturally, when the man of the hour dove straight toward the kelp and the monster, your initial reaction was to panic.

You rushed over to where he jumped in and dropped to your knees, your eyes straining for any sign of him below. If he didn't surface in a few seconds you would go in after him. Phil chuckled from behind you. "He's fine, you don't need to worry. Just grabbing seagrass to feed the turtles."

You turned to stare at him, your expression melting from worry to confusion, where you noticed Techno's crown in his hands. Speak of the devil--you heard Techno splash to the surface, diverting your attention back to him as he swam over calmly like he didn't just give you a heart attack. He approached the two of you while pocketing a large handful of seagrass with one hand, the other brushing his hair out of his eyes. You stood and dusted the sand off your shins. "Alright, boat time!" He announced cheerfully. 

"Boat time!" Phil echoed with a grin. 

Assholes.

You grumbled mentally about being stuck with madmen as a pair of boats appeared in the water, each of them stepping into one. Techno turned to you with an outstretched hand, one eyebrow raised as settled your hands on your hips. "You waitin' for something?" 

You narrowed your eyes at him, still annoyed that he didn't even realize you were worried, and therefore ignored his proffered hand, opting instead to take your chances of capsizing the both of you. He laughed a little at the power play as you joined him. After you were settled he picked up the oars and started rowing, both his and Phil's boats never straying far from the shore. Your little group passed the edge of a swamp, a towering stone formation, and a row of sheer cliffs studded with coal and ores until you found yourselves sailing along a beach that twisted and curved into the distance.

It wasn't until the sun shone high in the sky and you'd been traveling for what felt like an hour before the wind softened to a warm breeze and you could comfortably shed the cloak. You extracted yourself from the layers of cloth and stretched your shoulders, soaking in the warmth of the sun, or what little of it peered through the clouds. You tried very diligently not to notice Techno's back straining under his shirt as he rowed... and failed miserably. Fuck, get your head out of the gutter. 

You tried distract yourself with their conversation, but your attention kept slipping back to him. Desperate to look anywhere else, you turned your gaze out over the ocean. The scent of salt and fresh-cut spruce wood filled your nose, a surprisingly pleasant combination. You closed your eyes and inhaled deeply, allowing yourself to lean back and enjoy the ride. Your fingertips skimmed the top of the water and sent a fine mist trailing behind you. The cold tundra felt like a distant nightmare, fading fast. 

You dozed on and off, perhaps more tired than you'd realized after a restless night of sleep. It couldn't last, of course, and you weren't surprised that Techno was the one to end it. "Turtles!!!" He crowed loudly as the boats slowed to a stop. You cracked open an eye to glare at him. You almost, almost stuck your tongue out, but figured you might as well keep a sliver of your dignity. Phil snickered from the shallows as he broke his boat.

A quick glance at your surroundings later you found yourself drifting in the water a few feet from a flat beach and down the hill from a village, all of it under dark stormclouds. Several sea turtles shuffled around in the sand to your right, whereas Techno standing ankle-deep in the water, held out his hand to you again. You made him wait this time by stretching your arms over your head with a languid yawn. You expected him to grow tired of your antics and draw his hand back, but he stood patiently with amusement dancing in his eyes. Hmph. The edges of his lips twitched when your hand finally settled in his. His grip was firm as he helped you out of the boat, not that you... noticed or anything. 

As soon as your feet hit the sand the heavens opened with a brilliant flash of lightning.

It struck close enough to feel the ground rumble beneath your feet, and not a heartbeat later thunder followed with a deafening crack. You white-knuckled Techno's hand without thought, your pulse hammering in your fingers. Really it shouldn't scare you, it was just lightning and you weren't even wearing armor, but you suddenly couldn't take in more than a shallow breath at a time, your stare piercing into the middle-distance. You could smell iron, cloying, overwhelming. You wanted to crawl out of your skin as panic crept up your spine--

"Uh--uh, Phil?" Techno sounded entirely unsure for once. 

You flinched as thunder boomed again. 

Two blue eyes entered your field of vision before you felt a hand on your right arm. You tensed, a memory struggling to surface under the fog. Someone gripping your arm so hard it hurt, yanking you back--a harsh voice, fear--running, you couldn't breathe you couldn't breathe youcouldn'tbreathe--

"Hey, stay with me." Phil reminded you gently.

You shuddered, your eyes shutting so tightly that stars flashed behind your eyelids. One shaky inhale, then you released the breath trapped in your stiff lungs. You were lucky Phil was such a softy--honestly, because you had the feeling Techno didn't know how to deal with... whatever was happening to you right now. 

"That's it, just breathe. In... n' out."

You jumped again as lightning struck nearby, but Techno squeezed your hand. Whether he intended to or not it kept you anchored in the here and now. Inhale, exhale, repeat. Not long passed before you opened your eyes. "There she is. Better?"

You nodded, mouthing a silent 'Thanks.' He patted you on the arm once before straightening, his smile wide. "I'll just be looking for charged creepers if you need me. Remember to take deep breaths." 

His attention switched to your pink-haired companion. "Stay with her will you?" Techno nodded once tersely. 

Phil headed up the hill, leaving you with Techno in the rain. You still had your fingers wrapped in his, you realized suddenly. You let go abruptly and stepped away, shame curling heavy and rancid in your stomach. Another deafening crack of thunder made you jump as he stood there unfazed. Your fingers shook as you retrieved a torch from your inventory and dragged it through the sand.

Techno waited with a quirked brow for you to finish, but his expression fell as he read your message. "'Sorry?' There's nothing to--it's fine, don't worry about it." Your expression must've looked as miserable as you felt because he sighed and scuffed up the word with his boot. "I'm serious. You didn't do anything wrong."

You hesitated, raindrops hitting your cheeks and falling away while you processed his words. Reluctantly, you let it go. You truly couldn't comprehend why he was being so kind--maybe the same reason you'd trusted his judgement of Phil. That felt like days ago now.

You were grateful to him, make no mistake, just... unsure of how to accept his generosity. He solved that problem for you at least temporarily by holding out a handful of seagrass. "It'll go faster if we both feed them. I should mine the eggs though--my pick has silk touch." You accepted the seagrass with a small smile, your fingers warming as they brushed against his.

For a moment guilt gnawed at you as you realized his cloak was dirty with sand and mud at the hem. You grimaced, but--after a sidelong glance to your crouching companion--you realized that he probably didn't care as long as it was being used well. You snuggled deeper into the fur mantle of the cloak, allowing the weight of it to soothe your nerves as you joined him in placing chunks of seagrass for the turtles. 

The warmth returned to your chest as Techno cooed at them about... stealing their eggs. "Yeah, they're gonna be free-range turtles, and then we're gonna mass breed them--and we're gonna get so many of their shell things." You couldn't help but laugh softly. When you looked up, he was staring at you with an expression you couldn't quite read, maybe wonder? Or... maybe surprise at hearing the closest thing to your voice since you'd met. You couldn't quite decipher it before his features melted into a quietly pleased smile. You both held a moment too long before you ducked your head and he returned his attention back to the turtles.

Ah, fuck. So much for burying it in the snow, huh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd love to hear your feedback on this one, especially since it's one I'm not suuuuper happy with. I'm feeling out the vibe of the story as I go, so the comments are definitely your space to tell me what you like and don't like! Also: posture check lol :p


	5. Orphan Bee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is another shorter chapter because I realized that about half of what I had written worked better later on. I'll make chapter 6 extra long for y'all, worry not! Thanks again to everybody supporting this story because it's giving me the confidence to keep writing! Hope you enjoy this chapter even though it's a bit of a filler!
> 
> EDIT: I've rewritten the second half of the chapter and added a thousand words or so; if you haven't read the new version you might want to because a few things in chapter 6 won't make sense otherwise

Techno had eight eggs in total by the time your work was finished. He'd walked up the hill to search the village and find Phil while you were given a shovel and told to collect sand for the enclosure. You didn't mind; something about the steady repetition of shoveling smoothed away the tension coiled in your shoulders. You collected half a stack before you thoughts drifted as they were bound to do, but rather than revisit bad memories, your mind turned to Techno. 

His cloak lay on a nearby rock, carefully folded and set aside before you began working. When the three of you had been in the snowy forest earlier, you overheard snatches of their conversation. While you couldn't make out much above the whistling wind, and to be honest the better half of you was trying to give them privacy, you did catch a few broken sentences. "'--the voices, Phil, they--" "--but you've always struggled with--" "--I'm trying to be better, but I just... I just wanna stab somethin'."

Another half-stack of sand would probably be enough. 

You'd be lying if you said Techno's confession wasn't a little off-putting. But... you'd also be lying if you said it changed your opinion of him. As irrational as it was, you still trusted this very powerful 'barely-not-a-stranger' with your life. You huffed; what a mess.

Another loud crack of thunder fell over the landscape as your put away your shovel and the last of the sand. You hurried to wrap the cloak around yourself again and took comfort in its warmth. 

"You've angered the gods! I don't know this man, I've never met him before in my life!!" You snickered as Techno's voice reached you. Following it, you clambered up the hill and approached the village cautiously. 

Both of them were in a field pacing back and forth with their eyes on the horizon. "D'y'know how rare a charged creeper would be?? Imagine--do you have a trident with chann'ling?" Phil's accent got heavier when he was excited, you noted with a smile. You passed several villagers on your way over to the boys, but they barely payed you any attention. Good. You might be an amnesiac but you knew for a fact you didn't like eyes on you. 

'Unless they were red...' a treacherous voice in the back of your mind hummed glibly.

You grit your teeth and sent the voice to its corner. Now was not the time; it would never be the time because it was not. Going. To happen.

Techno glanced over at you with a wry grin. "There's so much lightning over here but--somehow--the creepers have avoided all of it, which is the most statistically likely thing to happen." He informed you, sarcasm dripping from every syllable.

Phil shrugged. "I'm gonna head over there, looks like there's lots of lightnin'." A trident appeared in his hand before he lifted off the ground and--and flew though the rain. Your jaw dropped. Your eyes remained wide with disbelief as you watched Phil fade into the distance; he was no larger than a speck before you could even process the last ten seconds. 

Techno beckoned you over with a chuckle, a matching trident in his hand. "You got the sand?" 

You nodded, finally tearing your gaze away from Phil to him. "Good. I'm gonna take a wild guess that you've never seen one of these before." No, you hadn't. You shook your head. He hummed, looking to where Phil had disappeared and then back at you out of the corner of his eye. "...Wanna try it out?"

Wait, was he really offering? You pointed to your chest, a question.

He laughed as he offered it. "Yes, you."

You took it with an enthusiastic nod, nearly bouncing on your toes as you accepted it. The weapon was cool in your grip and lighter than you expected. You could practically feel the power radiating off of it. 

"Here, hold it like this," Techno slid your hand a little higher and adjusted your posture. "And then you just... kinda stab the air and trust it to carry you. It helps to look up and then back down to where you want to land. I advice against landing on the ground, for obvious reasons."

You rolled your eyes at him. Duh. He raised his hands in surrender before stepping back to give you space. Your grip on the trident tightened as you trained your vision upward, watching the rain falling in silence. Three things happened next: you bent your knees, brought your arm back with an even breath, and lunged for the sky. You let out a thrilled whoop as the ground fell away quickly, grinning like a maniac when--for a perfect moment--you hung suspended in the air above the village. 

But you'd forgotten the most basic principle of gravity: what goes up, must come down.

Your eyes widened in panic as you began to fall. You caught a glimpse of Techno's grin fading to horror below you as you flailed, kicking out to direct your momentum toward the nearest soft landing--a fountain. The ground rushed up to meet you. You shut your eyes tight and curled inward, your hair flying in your face as you braced for impact--

You landed with a soft thud in a pile of something scratchy and dry. You cautiously opened one eye, then the other, before letting out a shaky breath, dazed. You... were alive. You were alive! 

Your heard rapid footsteps approaching, a few moments' warning before Techno's face appeared in your vision. His shoulders slumped in relief as he realized you were fine, if shaken. He reached in to yank you out of the... hay. You'd completely missed the fountain and gotten lucky enough to land in a pile of hay.

You scrunched up your nose, freezing for a moment before you sneezed violently. Techno rubbed his forehead with one hand, the other still gripping yours tightly. Finally he raised his head to glower at you halfheartedly. "I'm revoking your trident privileges. They've been revoked."

Maybe it was the adrenaline from, y'know, almost dying, but you couldn't take his admonition seriously. You slapped a hand over your mouth to try (and fail) to stifle your laugh; your eyes watering. He joined in a few moments later despite himself when you handed over the trident sheepishly--one near-death experience was enough for the day, thank you. 

Phil landed a little ways from the haystack in a splash of water, then picked it back up in his bucket and glanced between you two. "Did I miss somethin'?"

You had nearly calmed by then, but something about his question broke you down again. You wheezed, letting go of Techno's hand to brace yourself on his arm as you doubled over. If he minded he didn't say anything, but maybe he was just too busy laughing. After a few minutes Phil switched his stare between you and Techno, eyes narrowed, before walking further into the village to steal hay bales from another pile. You were almost, almost too distracted giggling to flinch when lightning struck nearby.

Your laughter faded as a glowing creeper appeared from where the lightning struck. It kinda looked like a force field swirled around it, shimmering, mesmerizing. You tugged on techno's arm and pointed.

"Phil!! Phil we found a charged creeper!" Techno's voice carried as he turned away to call out excitedly to his friend. 

The blond poked his head around a corner, elatiion lighting up his face as he caught sight of the creature. "Hang on, don' kill it! I'm coming!"

"Oh I'm stayin' far away from that, Phil." Techno took a few steps back, inadvertently bringing you with him.

You watched as Phil charged straight for the creeper, your grip on Techno tightening as he literally goaded it into exploding. He just... smacked it with the trident before hauling ass back to the two of you. "Yeah sure just--just lead it toward us Phil. That's great Phil." Techno deadpanned. 

You snickered. The charged creeper paused, light spilling from its hide as it self-destructed. Phil barely put enough distance between himself and the mob before it exploded with an ear-ringing boom. A shockwave rippled over the grass and tugged at Techo's cloak, staggering you a step back. You stared at the crater; it had to be twice as big as a normal creeper hole. Three times, maybe. 

Phil wasted little time hopping down into the dirt. "I got it!!" He announced gleefully, his head popping back up as he held aloft... was that a creeper head?? 

"Put it on!!" Techno cupped both hands around his mouth to yell. 

He took off his helmet to put the creeper head on, then turned to look at you two slowly. The lot of you burst into another fit of laughter. "That... that is amazing." Techno managed as your chuckling died down. The villagers were staring at you like you were insane. To be honest? You couldn't care less.

The night was quiet as your group trekked back through the forest, this time staying on the side without snow for as long as you could. You kept up with Techno and Phil, partially because you weren't frozen solid this time but also because they didn't want you to get separated in the dark. There were far too many mobs prowling under the trees; you might've been a decent fighter, but you weren't an idiot. 

You half-listened as Techno and Phil switched to the topic of "riptide-pearling." You took a wild guess that it involved their tridents and, for a brief moment, entertained the thought that they'd leave you behind, forget you in the forest, that you'd be alone again trying to escape--

As if he could sense your mounting distress, Phil turned back to look at you over his shoulder. Techno did not. "It's to increase the distance the pearls travel by throwing one while you use a trident."

Techno's attention stayed on your surroundings. He cut down a zombie with a single slash of his sword and spoke without missing a beat: "I was thinking of going back to the house to grab leads if we find bees."

Ah, that made sense. A particularly biting gust of wind prompted you to pull the cloak tighter around yourself, looking forward to a warm fire and literally anywhere to lay your head. By the time the lot of you ended up in the snowy biome, everyone's feet were dragging. You wondered idly how Techno looked the least tired of all of you. He'd gone without a bed for two nights now, did all of the rowing to the village and back, and ended up taking point against the mobs--and yet his gaze was still alert, his fighting still fluid. 

It took several minutes of close scrutiny before you realized he WAS tired. He hid it well, to his credit. If you hadn't been looking you wouldn't have noticed anything amiss; not the slouch of his shoulders, nor the way his boots scuffed against the ground with every other step. 

You were ripped from your train of thought when Phil yelled suddenly. "OH! I saw a bee over there!!" You turned to see him point up ahead and to the left. He strode off without another word, leaving you and Techno to follow. You'd begun to doubt his eyesight when you stumbled into a clearing full of poppies, with one bee bumbling between the flowers. Oh, guess he was right. 

"It's odd, bees aren't meant to be out at night." Phil stepped closer and crouched, smiling at the little bee. "Where's your buddies then, hm?" You and Techno shared an amused look behind him. Almost like he had eyes in the back of his head, he turned to Techno and crossed his arms, casting a disapproving look at each of you. "D'you still want to try an' get that lead?"

Techno thought about it a minute, glancing at the height of the moon before he nodded. "Yeah. I shouldn't be gone long. Try not to get into any trouble." He gave you a pointed look, but you knew he was just teasing. Mostly. 

You settled for an exaggerated salute to get your point across, fighting a little smile.

Phil snickered quietly. "We'll look for the hive 'til you get back. It's gotta be around here somewhere."

You nodded in agreement. 

"Alright, sounds good." You didn't watch him leave, but you did listen for the hum of his trident as he took off. 

Phil turned to you with a smile. "Come on, let's start lookin'. If the nest is here it'll be in an oak tree." You tilted your head, but followed nonetheless as he started walking a circle around the clearing. The path got a little farther away each time, and on the fourth trip around he finally spoke again. "Do you know who Dream is?"

You shook your head. 

"Ah, okay. He's the first person to get here, him and a few others." He didn't wait for your reaction before continuing. "He's one of the most powerful people 'round here, except for Technoblade and maybe--well, not Schlatt anymore." That name again. 

You stopped to scrawl it in the snow with your sword, along with a question mark. Phil hesitated before answering. "He was president of L'Manburg. Died a few days ago during the L'Manburg-Pogtopia War." 

L'Manburg?? Pogtopia?? You had twice as many questions now--not to mention that apparently this war happened right around the time you showed up at Techno's home. You frowned; maybe it was just a coincidence, but... it was strange timing.

It seemed like Phil had no interest in giving you another history lesson. The silence wasn't necessarily uncomfortable as you kept looking for the beehive, but you were relieved when Techno landed in the clearing and called out. "Did you find it?" 

"No luck. We can come back another time, but it's getting late, even for you."

Techno nodded, "Alright." The three of you collected a few of the poppies and attached the lead to the bee before making your way back to his house. 

He set a brisk pace, one that you struggled to keep up with. Phil lagged behind with you, but you figured it was just because he was tired. He seemed the type to go to bed at a decent time, and by the same token it made sense that Techno was a degenerate insomniac. You... weren't sure which side of the coin you fell on. All you knew was by the time Techno ushered you both through his front door, you weren't quite ready to sleep. Sure, your body felt like lead, but your talk with Phil earlier set your mind on edge. You needed to release this anxious energy.

Phil groaned beside you as he popped his back. "Mind if I crash 'ere for tonight?"

"Sure. I have an extra bed somewhere, let me go look." As Techno descended a floor down you turned your attention to the dark coals in the fireplace, shivering. The building might've kept the wind out, but it was still achingly cold. 

It was as good a solution to your agitations as any. You made for the front door, already calculating how many logs you'd need to cut down for the fire, but Phil stopped you with a quizzical look. "Where are you off to?"

You took out your axe in reply. He hummed, apparently satisfied. "Be careful then."'

You patted your new diamond sword at your back and smiled at him before heading out into the snow. Once you were alone, your thoughts ran off with a mind of their own. You killed a skeleton archer, your breaths uneven as you paced deeper in the forest. You hacked through a pair of zombies and demolished a creeper, allowing yourself to vent the stress of the last few days. 

It felt great to work your muscles--you found an odd peacefulness in demolishing any monster that approached you and--once you were suitably deep in the forest--in chopping away at nearly-dead tree. You kept going even when your arms shook, putting your anxious thoughts into every swing. 

Why were you being hunted by one of the most powerful people around? Apparently you'd stolen something, but the only things you actually owned before you found Techno were the ruined clothes on your back and an old iron sword. You brought the axe back and slammed it into the tree again. You could still feel the pain of an axe across your chest, the impact of the crossbow bolt slamming into your side as you turned to run.

Something didn't feel right. 

Who was Schlatt, and how did you know him? Why was your reaction so... visceral when you tried to remember? Why couldn't you remember?? 

You shouted, slamming your axe into the tree with a loud crack. Your chest heaved with ragged breaths, the axe nearly slipping from between your fingers as the tree toppled over into the snow. You tilted your head back to look at the stars. For once, your mind was truly quiet.

When your breathing evened out, you finished chopping up wood for the fire and returned to the house. Your venture had finally worn you out; you could practically feel the soft mattress waiting for you upstairs. You peered in and, seeing nobody in the main room, slipped inside. You shut the door carefully, in case the other two were sleeping. 

You crouched next to the fireplace and set the wood inside. You couldn't recall building a campfire before, but arranging the twigs and tinder around the logs felt familiar. You rummaged for a flint and steel in the chests and found literally everything but what you needed. Enchanted books, gear, potions, materials--but no flint and steel. 

"Looking for this?" Your head snapped around to Techno, who leaned against the opposite wall. You relaxed after a moment; he was unfairly quiet when he wanted to be.

He crossed the room to hand you the flint and steel. You took it with a mouthed 'thanks' before turning back to your fire. It sparked easily, but you tended the flames until you were sure it wouldn't burn out. Heat radiated through the room by the time you stood, your muscles groaning at the movement. 

Techno seemed to be waiting for something, though you weren't sure what. After a few moments he opened his mouth, then shut it again. Finally he spoke, almost... sheepishly? "Thanks. For the fire." 

You smiled. To be honest it was a tiny gesture compared to what he'd done for you so far, but he seemed to appreciate it so you let it be. You remembered suddenly that his cloak was still wrapped around your shoulders and moved to unclasp it, but Techno stopped you with a hand over yours. "Keep it." He said simply. You drew your hands away, though must've read the skepticism on your face because he rolled his eyes. "I have a dozen more and you got this one dirty. Keep it."

You huffed, and the tension that had built in the room fell away. You were just barely starting to understand him, but he still confused you more often than not. 

The two of you stood staring at the fire in comfortable silence for a bit; maybe he was trying to wind down like you were. You couldn't stifle a yawn for the third or fourth time, your eyelids drooping as the warmth soaked into your bones. Techno echoed you a beat later. You swayed a little before catching yourself and deciding it might be time for you to go to sleep. You patted him gently on the arm as you passed to bid him goodnight. 

You were already half asleep by the time you fell onto the mattress. You wrapped yourself up in his cloak, and a few breaths later you slipped into dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens bwhahahah! things are going well for now, but how long can that really last? 
> 
> you should see some new faces soon, and not all of them are friendly...


	6. Technoblade Never Dies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all I... I forgot how to spell circle for a minute. It's not important to the story or anything but I needed y'all to understand the absolute genius, the scope of my enormous brain. Cirlce. I spelled it cirlce. 
> 
> Also, according to YouTube statistics, I'm soft for emotional vulnerability and I hope you all are too because that's... that's literally the chapter. Whoops. Hope you enjoy!

The next day passed in a blur. You played the role of errand boy for Techno and Phil while they put together an enclosure for the turtles as well as a way to harvest their scutes. Apparently they were extremely useful in defense potions, and though you were under the impression that Techno was in 'retirement,' you didn't question it. He seemed like the type to prepare for anything, and nobody settled in the middle of a tundra without a reason. 

Techno claimed he'd made a turtle farm before, though you caught him consulting his 'memories' a weathered book that, if you had to take a guess, contained farming methods for several animals. "When it comes to turtles," he'd told you as you placed sand and he worked on the hopper system, "you can only harvest the scutes they shed naturally as they grow. It's highly inefficient--if the potions weren't so good I wouldn't bother."

For hours you followed their instructions; place that there, grab more of that from the chest in the house, pass that material, wait no Techno messed up the dimensions and we have to redo half of the work, ohmygod that zombie just trambled five eggs what the fuck--

Suffice to say it was an eventful afternoon. Your work lasted until about five, when the only thing left was to wait for the surviving eggs to hatch. The three of you took an early dinner at Techno's house before heading back to the forest to look for more bees. (The orphan bee from the night before was currently safe in an artificial nest, but it wouldn't survive long without a colony). 

According to Phil, early evening was the best time to look for them because they were out and about--but when the sun set you could follow them back to their hive. When you found the clearing with the poppies the three of you decided to split up. You had gone to the north, Phil went east and Techno headed west.

You scanned the trees carefully as you padded along in the verdant forest. Water dripped from the branches above you; the day had been warm enough to leave Techno's cloak in your backpack, and the snow in the area had thawed considerably. You walked around for at least an hour, occasionally crossing paths with one of the boys as you combed the area. You'd nearly given up hope (perhaps it really was an orphan that Phil found yesterday and not just lost) when you heard faint buzzing off to the right. 

Your pace picked up as you followed the noise. It took longer than you expected to find the bee, a plump little thing covered in pollen. You couldn't exactly call out to to the others, so you decided to follow it back to its nest, memorize the location, and find one of them afterward. The bee led you closer to where the three of you split up earlier before it turned sharply and headed up a hill. You trudged after it, grumbling that of course you'd end up finding it where you started, that was just your luck. 

Then the ground disappeared under your feet.

Your body reacted before you could think, your hands shooting out to find even the smallest of handholds against the sheer wall. You caught a ledge, your shoulder taking the brunt of the impact with a loud pop. You shouted in pain as your legs swung, grinding your shoulder halfway out of the socket. Your heart thundered in your ears as you risked a glance down. Oh gods, that was a long drop. How had you not seen it?? You pressed your forehead against the cold stone of the cliff and gasped a shuddering breath. Okay--okay, this wasn't great.

Yeah, no shit.

You turned your sight upward to look for another handhold, vines--anything to climb out on. The good news was that you hadn't fallen terribly far; the edge of the ravine was about two meters above your hand. Bad news was... the edge of the ravine was two whole meters above your hand and well out of your reach. 

You switched hands to take the weight off your shoulder, eyeing the edge. Maybe if you got a foothold you could push up--

"Oh my god. Techno!!"

You could've cried in relief. That was Phil's panic-stricken voice carrying over from the other side of the ravine. Your grip slipped a hair, fingers trembling at the strain of keeping you up. A gentle breeze tugged at your legs and swayed you, making the effort that much harder. You ground your teeth, praying they'd hurry the fuck up. 

"Watch my back for mobs." You heard Techno order, his tone clipped. A second later there was a thud from above you, then the crunch of footsteps in the snow. You looked up to see Techno scoot over the edge, stretching one arm out to you. "Come on, you can reach." He urged, his hair falling around his face as he shifted closer. Your grip slipped another fraction, a whimper slipping between your lips. Techno's brow pinched as panic flashed in his eyes, his fingers straining toward you with newfound urgency. You tried to steady yourself with a deep breath. You had one shot. Your fingers trembled with fatigue, but you braced your feet against the slippery rock, tensed your shoulders, and shoved with all your strength. 

You watched as, for a split second, your fingertips brushed against his. And then they slipped away.

Your stomach dropped as you began falling, falling falling--a hand seized your wrist. You snapped your eyes up to see Techno plummeting after you, tugging you closer to his chest before he flipped you so he'd hit the ground first. You didn't even have time to register the actual stupidity of this man, you were falling too fast, you'd hit the bottom any second now--

The impact never came.

You landed on something definitely not the floor of a ravine, still hard enough to drive the wind from your lungs but a thousand times more forgiving than cold stone. You gasped for breath, grimacing as your solar plexus spasmed. Phil dropped to to his knees next to you, or at least you assumed it was Phil because Techno--

Techno had cushioned your fall. You scrambled to sit up,, above him searching his face desperately for--for--you didn't know what, okay? He opened his eyes with a groan and stared at the stars for a long moment, an ender pearl held loosely in the hand that wasn't still on your arm. He just caught his breath for a moment, all three of you did, before the corners of his lips curled up. "To be honest with you I wasn't sure that would work."

You gaped at him, struggling to comprehend the scope of his recklessness. You wanted to hug him and smack him all at once. Phil seemed similarly stunned, though he did handle it with more grace than you.

"You fuckin' idiot." He chuckled, burying his face in his shaking hands. Okay, maybe with about the same grace as you.

"I have my moments," Techno replied dryly. His gaze flicked over to Phil before passing to you. "Guess heights just aren't your thing. You sure your name isn't Icarus?"

You could feel yourself shaking; first from adrenaline, then shock, before settling on a prickly mixture of anger and disbelief. How could he just... casually admit he was prepared to die for you and then cover it up with a dry quip. You balled your hands into fists, trying to blink back the hot tears that stung your eyes. You failed miserably. Great, now you could throw shame into the mix as well.

(Are you seriously crying right now? You're pathetic. He should've let you fall, he should've--)

You froze as warm arms wrapped around you, tugged you closer and pressed your face against someone's chest. You held it together for maybe another two seconds before completely dissolving against him. You sobbed silently, balling your hands in his shirt as he rubbed soothing circles on your back. "It's fine, we're fine," Techno murmured.

You wanted to tell him that it wasn't fine, that was so fucking scary and--and you almost died. He almost died for you. He barely even knew you, he didn't even know your name (not that you even knew yourself or had a name to give him, and wasn't that just damnable on its own?) and yet... he'd still jumped after you. He'd still given you his cloak and took you in and... and you could not fathom why he'd done any of it. After the ravine... it was all too much, all at once, as if suddenly the weight of the world had come crashing down on you. 

He ran his fingers gently through the ends of your hair, untangling them as he let you cry into his shoulder. So much had happened in a week. Gods, it was overwhelming. He shouldn't care. Hell, you shouldn't be so scared for his safety. And yet... he waited there patiently for your sobs to turn into sniffles, and you trusted him not to let you go. 

After what felt like ages your breathing evened out a little. He cleared his throat. "Alright. I uh, I'm not... the best, at talking. And emotions. Especially talking about emotions." He paused to take a deep breath. You felt his chest rise, felt the rumble in his chest as he spoke. "But I think maybe we should talk about--that."

You nodded into his shirt with a sniff, so he continued. "Is this--" He squeezed his arms around you. "--because you got scared?"

Another nod. He squeezed again. "I mean, there's nothin' to be ashamed of. That was," he blew out a heavy breath, shifting to rest his chin on your head as his voice softened. "That was scary. Yeah."

You shook your head and poked your finger into his chest. 'You,' the gesture meant.

"You were scared for me?" You nodded again, your cheeks burning as he huffed. "Well that's your mistake--you don't have to worry about me. See, Technoblade never dies." He said in That Tone. You know the one. Like when he fell into the turtle pool earlier and tried to play it off by acting self-assured. 

You rolled your eyes, which he must've caught onto even without seeing it because he laughed, rocking you both back a little. "Seriously though, I wouldn't still be around if I didn't know how to get myself out of messes, alright?" You were still a bit skeptical, but didn't bother arguing. Instead you extracted one arm to scribble something in the snow. 

"Why?" He read aloud as you tucked yourself back into his hug. You nodded, feeling his fingers return to your hair while he considered your question. After a long while of you shamelessly relaxing into--into his lap, you realized distantly--he cleared his throat. You could practically feel the nervousness rolling off of him. "I uh... I don't know. I didn't really... think about it before I jumped." He admitted.

You stayed there, just taking comfort in him. Alive and well, despite his most reckless efforts. You payed attention to the rise and fall of his chest to remind yourself that you were both intact. You wished you could find your voice and thank him, for everything really, but settled for wrapping your good around his neck and holding him. He didn't seem to mind.

You were happy there in your quiet corner of the universe, but all things must end. He shifted under you after a little while, his words colored with reluctance as he broke the silence. "This is--nice, don't get me wrong. But uh, I can't feel my ass." 

It caught you completely off guard. You froze a moment before snorting into the crook of his neck, your eyes crinkling. You pulled back, acutely aware when his warm hands left your back. You extracted yourself from his lap and dusted yourself off before offering him a hand. He took it, though you didn't do much of the work as he stood up. His fingers lingered against yours a heartbeat longer than necessary before they withdrew. 

You glanced around, raising a brow when you realized your friend was nowhere in sight. "I uh, I think I saw Phil walking home with the beehive." Techno admitted. 

At least all this wasn't for nothing, you reasoned. Now that the near-death adrenaline had faded and you weren't wrapped up in his arms, you realized that night had fallen and it was literally freezing. Therefore you rummaged around in your backpack a moment before pulling out Techno's cloak and wrapping it around your shoulders. Techno looked down at you nearly drowning in the fabric and shook his head fondly. 

The walk back home was silent, but comfortable. You could feel that the energy between you two had shifted, and while it was admittedly a little startling, it was also... kinda nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter DEFINITELY didn't happen to me in my minecraft world the other day. I did nOT chase a bee into a ravine without looking and fall to my death. There's no proof. Show me the receipts and then we can talk-
> 
> On a more serious note, thank you again to everyone who's supported the story so far! I hope I'm not being too repetitive with these author's notes, but it means the world to me that I put this out there and other people said "!!! Hi i love this!!" and then they??? asked for more?? I can't thank y'all enough for that


	7. The Calm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things: I cannot believe Techno put up the sign that said sic semper tyrannis today because there's literally a chapter in my drafts with that title. WILD.
> 
> on the topic of me not being as original as i thought, there's also at least two(2) other fics on ao3 named "Myosotis/myosotis sylvannia/alpestris (forget me not)" which is.... funny as hell when you think about it XD
> 
> anyway, here's the chapter! hope you like it-I actually posted this early this morning and deleted it because it just needed to be re-written for y'all lol

You shuffled your feet for the hundredth time, praying that this torture would end soon. One of the village tailors hrmed at you, but you ignored them in favor of fidgeting again. You nearly kicked the other villager when they poked you in the thigh with their needle. They weren't asking to be punted into the wall, you reminded yourself with an even breath. They were just doing their job. Agonizingly slowly.

You tried to concentrate on anything but the sheer discomfort of being half-naked in front of two people who literally had to touch you for hours. A bead of sweat ran down your spine--as if just being there wasn't uncomfortable enough, the village happened to be in a warm biome and the sun was blazing. You heard Techno flip the page of his book from the other side of the divider. 

"I just need to find a librarian who has Thorns," he'd told you as you left the house. 

"Since we're here we can get you some clothes," he'd suggested at the front of the village. 

"It'll only take an hour, tops," he'd promised as he opened the door to the tailor's for you. Sly bastard.

Measurements alone took thirty minutes. Then you had to pick out the clothes themselves, from a wide variety of patterns and colors and material--it was all ridiculously overcomplicated, so you let Techno choose most of it. He had more of an eye for style than you, clearly. Selecting the clothes to be altered took another forty minutes, and by then the sun was directly overhead and beating down on the wooden rooftops. The two of you had taken a brief break to eat lunch before heading back in; the last step was to adjust the pre-made clothes to fit you. Which dragged on for another two hours.

Finally, they finished, giving you the side-eye as they retreated so you could redress. Yeah yeah, you weren't exactly a fan of them either. You rolled your eyes before turning your attention back to the neatly folded clothes Techno picked out. 

"Ready?" Techno called from the other side of the divider.

You stepped out a minute later in simple black trousers and a red tunic. They were the lightest material in the pile and you didn't feel like sweating on the way home, so...

Techno dragged his attention from his book up to you. You caught his split-second double take and tugged at the sleeve of your shirt to busy your fingers. "Looks great." He said simply as he stood. 

You carefully packed the rest of the clothes in your bag before slinging it over you shoulder. Techno finished paying the tailors, and you headed out into the hazy afternoon. "It shouldn't take long to get the trades I need from the librarian. Wait here." He informed you as the two of you stopped outside one of the larger buildings in the village. You rolled your eyes but didn't argue, content to sit on the cobblestone steps and enjoy the shade. 

You leaned back on your hands and closed your eyes, breathing in the sweet scent of hay and hot grass. A brook babbled on off to the left, lulling you close to sleep. You startled as a boot nudged your arm, your sight shooting up to Techno. 

He smirked down at you, entirely unfazed by your withering glare. He held up an enchanted book. "I got what I needed. Let's get out of here."

You knocked your shoulder against his as you brushed past him as payback. He stumbled back a step and snorted, though you could tell he was smiling when he caught up to you. You set a brisk pace; the trip back to his house would take an hour give or take, and you wanted to get back before Phil left. He said he would finish the apiary before leaving for L'Manburg, but you had no idea how long that would take him. 

Without taking a break (and by the end of it you were glad you wore the breathable clothes), the trip took a little over an hour. You walked around the front of the house to where Phil was hammering. "I'll be done in a minute, jus' have to wrap this up." He called over his shoulder to the two of you.

You shrugged, leaving Techno to catch up with him while you returned to the house--your backpack held much more than it logically should, and it made the items much lighter than they actually were, but you were glad to empty it of the clothes in your borrowed room. You stalled for time by stretching your neck, grabbing an apple from the food chest, and walking slowly back out to the front. 

Phil had finished when you got there, and you took it in with no small wonder, vowing to never underestimate his craftsmanship again. The little apiary sat next to the main cabin, a cozy building with floor-length windows to view the bees from and two sets of doors to make sure the bees didn't escape. He had even hung lanterns inside, and in the evening light the building seemed to glow.

You approached him, pointing at the apiary and grinning. You figured he'd get the message. He and Techno turned to you, the latter crossing his arms to let you two say your farewells. 

"Thank you. I'm sure you can handle the inside, I ran out of time." he said with a warm smile and an outstretched hand. You took it, nodding in agreement. He clapped you on the shoulder, shooting a sideways glance at Techno. "Don' let him get in too much trouble while I'm gone."

You both turned to look at Techno as he spoke up suddenly, lifting his gaze from a clear glass tablet in his hands. "Actually Phil, I'm comin' with you to L'Manburg. Dream wanted to meet--says he has a quest for me."

Your breath caught in your lungs. He... what??

"You sure tha's a good idea? You don't exactly have friends in L'Manburg."

"Yes, thank you Phil." Techno deadpanned. His gaze flicked over to you--you could've sworn you saw a flash of hesitance there before it vanished. "I don't get why the guy is so cryptic. 'Meet me on the mountain where we first met.' Ah yes, of course I remember. Out of the dozens of mountains around here, I remember this very specific one that I haven't been to in months." He remarked as he pocketed the tablet.

Phil pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a weary sigh. "This is a bad idea, Techno."

The dumbass was already at the stable, leading his prized horse out. "Relax, Phil. I'll have Carl with me. Carl's great!" 

When his friend didn't comment, Techno walked over to address you directly. "This shouldn't take more than a day, maybe two if I'm slow. If I'm not back by then--" He retrieved the tablet again and tapped his fingers across the glass before handing it to you. "--press that button. It'll send a message to Phil to come back."

You stared at the tablet, then back up at him, pointing to the button in question. He nodded. You looked back down, entirely unsure of the situation. How had everything changed so quickly?

He didn't wait for another reaction from you before climbing on Carl and holding out a hand for Phil to hop up. You couldn't do much more than wave as they left, watching until they disappeared over a hill. You put the tablet away and refused to look at it again; you had already resolved that you wouldn't need it. He would be back.

You kept telling yourself that, like a mantra playing over and over in your head as you retreated out of the cold. It felt... strange, to be alone for the first time since your night in the forest. You shuddered and locked those memories away before they could spiral out of control--nobody would be there if you greyed out, this time. 

To distract yourself, you ate a warm meal of steak and potatoes, drank a cup of tea, and went to bed just after sunset. You didn't sleep well.

The morning was equally boring, if not more so. Heavy grey clouds hung in the distant sky, but by the way the wind was blowing (and the dull headache that plagued you), you knew it wouldn't be long until the storm hit. You chopped enough wood to keep the fire going for a few days and checked on the turtle eggs--any excuse to enjoy the outdoors while you could. The turtles hadn't hatched, so you covered them in sand and placed a few more torches nearby in the hopes that it would keep them warm enough.

Your preparations finished, you trudged back to the house. As you knocked your boots against the porch to free them of any snow and mud, you heard a thump from inside. You pressed your ear against the door, and though the wind was almost too loud, you heard it again--the opening and closing of chests. A moment later, a young voice shouted, "Holy SHIT!"

You drew your sword and carefully backed away, circling around the house to the doors on the lower level. Three... two... one! You kicked the doors open, the loud bang alerting the intruder. 

He turned to look at you with a golden apple halfway to his mouth, a block of emerald tucked under his arm. He dropped both with a yelp and drew his sword, though he looked... unsteady. You waited for him to make the first move, regretting the choice to leave your hair unbraided as the wind whipped it around your head and into your eyes.

The kid took that as his chance to strike, lunging at your stomach with a shout. You deflected his blade into the wood where it got stuck, his eyes widening as he realized his mistake. He let go and backed away to retrieve an axe from his inventory, though it was made of stone and not much of a weapon. 

You stalked forward, intent on just disarming him and getting back what he stole. He looked to be retreating further, but--you realized too late it was a trap as he lashed out, feinting at the last second. You narrowly avoided decapitation, but he landed a fist to your jaw while you were off guard.

The sudden burst of pain didn't faze you, but it did send you reeling a step or two. You grit your teeth, glaring at the little punk. You wouldn't underestimate him again. He gulped.

His eyes darted to the door behind you as he began to realize you didn't plan on letting him escape. You were more careful this time to watch him for any backhanded tricks, but his desperation make him sloppy. He slashed at your thigh, but you blocked the attack and swept his legs out from under him. 

He landed on his ass, the axe clattering to the ground a moment later. You leveled your sword at his throat, the both of you panting lightly. 

"Who the fuck are you!? Tell Dream if he wants me to go back he'll have to get me himself!" The boy shouted, his blue eyes full of spite. And, you noticed with a pang, full of fear. 

Now that he was defenseless you noticed how thin he was, the dark circles under his eyes, the obvious wear and tear of his clothes. The storm must've hit outside, because the wind howled, filling the heavy silence. He shivered. You cursed to yourself. Don't you dare--

You sighed softly before lifting the blade from his throat. This was definitely going to bite you in the ass. 

He relaxed, but only barely. You glowered at each other before he spoke up. "Wait, you're not--are you not here to take me back to Logstedshire?"

To... what? You tilted your head, but he must've mistaken your confusion for something else because he rolled his eyes. "Hello?? Am I talking to a bloody wall or somethin'?" He pointed to his ear with one hand before speaking again, very slowly and loudly. "C-a-n y-o-u h-e-a-r m-e?"

You grit your teeth. This little shit--

It took every ounce of self-control you had, but you took a deep breath and tamped down the urge to kick him out.

Techno took you in when you needed it most, you reminded yourself. You weren't exactly a gracious guest either. You motioned for him to stay there, adding a threatening glare for good measure and taking his discarded weapons on your way out. He rolled his eyes, but you were fairly certain he'd stay put, if only to loot more.

When you returned a few moments later he was sat right where you left him, though he didn't look happy about it. You sat down a few feet in front of him and slid over a plate of chicken and bread, nodding at him encouragingly. He raised a brow. "I am not eating your bribery chicken."

You rolled your eyes and took out your second card: a piece of paper and a quill. 'Name?' You scribbled hastily before showing him. 

He shrugged, challenging you silently.

'Name and I don't kick you out.' It was an empty threat, but he didn't know that. 

He hesitated, a flicker of uncertainty betraying his tough facade. "You first." He finally said, jutting his chin out and crossing his arms. 

'Don't have one.'

The boy snorted, but after you just stared at him blankly he seemed to catch on. "Oh, I--sorry." He muttered as picked at the food; at least he had the decency to look slightly bashful. "I'm... I'm Tommy."

You smiled briefly before turning your attention back to the paper. 'How did you find here?'

Tommy chuckled nervously before popping a bite of bread in his mouth, probably stalling. "Well, it's a bit of a long story but the short if it is, I've been living in exile for a while and today--well yesterday, technically--I ran away from this fellow called Dream." He didn't seem to notice your renewed interest as he ate another bite and chewed thoughtfully. "To be honest he's a bit of a dick. Anyway I wandered for a bit, chopped down a few trees, right? And then I happened to find this place and figured I could ste--" He stopped short and glanced at you before backtracking. "--er, borrow a few things. Y'know, just a some essentials and also possibly some non-essentials."

You had about a thousand questions about Dream, but pushed aside your curiosity for the moment. 'Don't steal again.'

"I wouldn't call it stealing, exactly--I'm a man of honor and dignity," he corrected you, puffing out his chest defensively. You snorted. The effect was kinda ruined with his mouth full.

'You can stay until Techno gets back. It's his decision.'

Tommy sneered. "Who says I want to stay, eh?"

You shrugged, uncrossing your legs to stand up and open the door. The storm had truly set in by then, and a blistering wind filled the room within seconds. You closed the door again and raised a brow at him.

He laughed nervously, picking at the hem of his tattered shirt. "Okay. But only--" his eyes stared somewhere you couldn't see, off in the middle distance. His expression was wrenchingly familiar. "Only if I get to leave when I want."

You nodded in a heartbeat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, there's a lot to unpack in this one! I've never written Tommy before and to be honest I'm not sure I did his character justice, so I'm completely open to any constructive criticism you might have! Also I'm a Tommy "sympathizer" or whatever, and I don't even think this will be a problem on ao3, but please no toxicity in the comments :3
> 
> OH and my upload schedule might slow down because I have Things to do this week, but it'll try my best not to take too long!!


	8. The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm a little evil. TW for descriptions of blood but not gore. Read safely/check the tags if that might be an issue for you! please! I don't want to trigger anything for anybody oki bye now <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have promised destruction in a few comments (pretty sure two of them are to the same person as well lol), and I do not make empty promises. This chapter is where the fun begins! 
> 
> oh and it's 7 am and I haven't gone to sleep yet because the muses pretty much would't let me leave the computer until this was done, however I didn't proofread the second half of the chapter! so if there are any errors those will be fixed soon! 
> 
> anyways i'll let y'all read, hope you like it :3

You looked up from your book and scanned the horizon. Still nothing.

In the past eighteen hours since you found Tommy, you'd grown a grudging fondness for him. He was defensive, argumentative, and downright rude... but you both happened to be hiding from the same person: Dream. Whatever experience Tommy had with the guy left him slow to trust and even more reluctant to answer your questions--you'd given up after half an hour. Instead you fed him a steady supply of food and endured his grating chatter. 

"What are you even lookin' for?" He asked after you checked the window for the hundredth time. 

You narrowed your eyes at him and chose not to answer, instead turning your attention back to 'The Republic.' You'd been reading the same page over and over without really reading it. You heard him scoff and chose to ignore that too, though your skin did prickle with irritation. It wasn't his fault your mood was so sour, you knew that, but you were steadily growing more worried about Techno as the hours ticked by. The tablet, sitting innocently on your bed upstairs, haunted you. 

When the stars replaced the sun you officially gave up on reading (you'd managed a whopping three more pages by then, and you remembered absolutely nothing of them). You brought a bed up so Tommy could sleep close to the fire; the cold was absolutely bitter and with his clothes in such bad condition it was a miracle he hadn't caught frostbite while wandering outside. Satisfied that he wouldn't die of hypothermia in his sleep, you bid him goodnight with a tired smile and retreated up the ladder.

You decided on a bath to soothe your frayed nerves, but the warm water and scented oils did nothing; rather, they smelled like Techno had when you buried your face in his chest after the ravine. You lightly knocked your head against the tub as you begrudgingly admitted to yourself that you... missed him. You huffed in frustration, glaring up at the ceiling as if it would make your feelings go away. It didn't

You hauled yourself out of the tub after the water turned tepid, wincing at the soreness of your shoulder; Techno had used his only healing potions on you when he'd saved your life, so all you could do for it was rest until he made more. You still vaguely remembered his careful explanation of the potion's effect, his firm--but not unkind--grip as he poured over your side and you passed out from exhaustion and pain. You hoped you wouldn't ever have to return the gesture.

You pulled on your nightshirt and laced it with jerky movements, helplessness and bad memories threatening to overwhelm you. Breathe, you reminded yourself. Techno was a competent fighter and you trusted him to stay safe. Well--maybe not safe, but alive. He always seemed to get himself out of trouble. It didn't really reassure you.

In the morning, after another night of tossing and turning, your mood had only worsened. a day and a half had passed with no sign of Techno. You considered using the tablet, even picked it up and stared at the pre-written message to Phil for s couple minutes. Maybe if you reached out, he could come back and you'd track Techno down.

No, you decided finally--you'd give him until sunset; if he wasn't back by then you would start looking. 

When your feet hit the wooden floor of the main room and you realized it was devoid of a certain thief, you felt your stomach sink. You checked the in the basement or the room below the basement where Techno kept his mobs. You were about to go outside looking for the punk when your line of sight landed on a scrap of paper laid on Tommy's bed. You snatched it up, scanning the words quickly before sighing in relief. He'd taken one of Techno's coats and some food and left to go mining, it read. 

The panic faded, but your hands remained shaky and your nerves were absolutely frayed. Maybe a walk would help; being cooped up in the cabin for nearly a day now had left you restless and you figured it was a bad idea to let your anxiety fester any longer. You changed quickly into warmer clothes and the sturdier pair of boots Techno had gotten for you, stuffed his cloak into your backpack, and strapped your borrowed sword between your shoulder blades. Guess that made it a... shoulder-blade. You snorted at the dumb joke. At least your horrible sense of humor hadn't abandoned you.

Without much thought you began to walk, just letting your feet carry you while you immersed yourself in the distraction of your surroundings. You decided to leave your armor and the tablet behind--you didn't plan on staying away from the cabin for too long and there weren't any threats you couldn't handle in the forest. Probably. 

You weren't even sure how long you'd been going when rather suddenly the taiga faded to vibrant, sun-baked hills, covered in a myriad of flowers in a rainbow of shades. The sight took your breath away. It was... dreamlike. 

You inhaled in the sweet fragrance greedily as you waded through the sea of flowers toward a river running through the center. The babbling of water reminded you of the village from a few days ago, and with a pang you remembered Techno's laugh when you bumped against him. You pushed away the memory stubbornly--this little foray was meant to distract you from the disarmingly attractive, endearingly reckless man. 

You eyed a large rock to your left. It was probably soaked with warmth from the sunlight and therefore perfect for a nap--not a bad idea after two restless nights. Afterward, you decided, you'd gather some flowers to plant back at the apiary; the bees would love them. Small patches of blue flowers blanketed the riverbank and cushioned you as you settled on the ground first to unwind. You picked one idly and twirled it between your fingers. It was the simplest bloom there by far, but beautiful nonetheless. 

"They're quite lovely, aren't they?" A soft voice broke the peace, startling you so badly you nearly fell into the water. You whirled around to face the voice's owner, your sword halfway out of its sheath by the time you were on your feet. 

A man stood there in the flowers, his skin grey and his eyes dull; he stood out sharply against the mosaic of colorful petals and leaves. A blue sheep munched on some lilacs behind him. He tilted his head and stared at you, ignorant of the blade pointed at his chest. His voice had an airy quality and echoed as he spoke. "Hello! I don't--I can't remember you. Am I supposed to?"

...what kind of question was that? Not one you could answer, you supposed wryly, because there was a chance you were supposed to remember him as well and neither of you would have any way of knowing. You finally settled on a shrug. The ghost(?) seemed harmless, so you lowered your weapon to your side.

"Oh, that's alright! I'm Ghostbur, and this is Friend! Say hello Friend!" The sheep stared you dead in the eyes and bleated. You stared back. The entire situation felt like a fever dream.

"Are you alright? I would give you some blue but I-I used the last of it on Friend."

You were still struggling to keep up as he approached the riverbank and stooped to pick more of the little flowers. He turned back to you with a smile and a handful of them. You held out your hand palm-up without thinking, and he handed them to you carefully. "There! Now they'll suck up all the sadness in you. And then what you can do is you can throw them away, and all your blue will be gone!"

He settled on the riverbank. You join him a moment later, your nap long forgotten--looking back you'd be hard-pressed to put your finger on why you trusted him, but you did. Maybe it's because he seemed a bit lost and in that moment, you... you felt a little lost too. 

You looked down at the flowers cupped in your palms and sighed. At that point, you were willing to try anything. As you traced over the flowers with your eyes, you imagined your hands, shaky with anxiety; your breathing, shallow and choppy; your stomach, weighing heavy with worry--you imagined it all draining quietly into the petals, and then you dropped them in the water one by one, and you watched them drift away.

Somehow, you did feel better. A little.

Ghostbur beamed next to you, the brightness of his expression a stark contrast to everything else about him. "Look you go! You're quite good with the blue--not everybody understands at first, but you... you do!"

You smiled back at him before turning your attention away. The meadow fell silent again for a long while, except for the gently dancing river and the wind snaking through the grass. You picked a few more of the little blue flowers idly, both to give your hands something to do and to save for later. Techno and Tommy didn't seem the type to make use of the 'blue', but you wanted to remember this peaceful little moment with another lost soul. A kindred spirit, if you will. You laughed quietly to yourself at your second pun of the day. Maybe you should try comedy.

It was nearly evening again, you realized with a pang after the sun began to lose it's warmth. If Techno wasn't home by the time you got back... you sighed softly and tossed a flower in the river. Ghostbur stayed by the water as you stood and began collecting flowers. There were dozens of varieties, but you made sure to grab a few of each to stall for time. When you turned back to the river, debating whether or not to say goodbye to your new possible friend, you instead found him walking over with Friend. 

"Do you--ah, do you mind if I ask where you're headed?" He asked, picking at a cornflower in his hands. 

You pointed in the direction of the cabin. 

He nodded thoughtfully. "Can Friend and I come along? I'm not sure--Dream sent me away from L'Manburg so I've been--I've been out wandering for a while and I've no idea where to go next. It could be an adventure!"

You hesitated. Would Techno want you harboring another stranger in his house? One who apparently also knew Dream at that. Did everybody know Dream but you??

Ghostbur's smile dimmed. "That's alright, I--I'll keep wandering. Perhaps I'll find another person like me! I hope it doesn't snow again, it--it's rather unpleasant, for me. Friend isn't fond either." He was barely speaking to you by the time he finished; already he had turned away and begun walking. You waved at his back, regret curling under your ribs. You took out one of the flowers and dropped it with one more glance at Ghostbur before turning back in the direction of the cabin. It was nearly sunset by the time you got back to a familiar area of the forest; you hadn't realized how far you walked earlier. 

There was perhaps another mile between you and Techno's place when you noticed footsteps in the snow--fresh ones, four distinct pairs of them. You hadn't left the tundra this way, which meant four people who weren't you were probably at the house now. You drew your sword and followed the tracks, scanning through the trees for anything out of place, or more specifically for an ambush.

You reached the edge of the tress and saw the cabin's light spilling out onto the snow. Your shoulders relaxed when you noticed Carl safely tucked away in his stable, Techno on the porch, Wilbur and Friend nearby, and... and four men in full sets of enchanted netherite armor, with their enchanted netherite swords at the ready. They stood by the apiary, too far for you to make out their conversation. You crept closer, slinking between the shadows of the trees. You looked up in time to see one of the soldiers, who looked like a humanoid fox, spit at Techno's feet. The leather of your sword's grip creaked under your fingers, but you stayed hidden.

You had just positioned yourself directly across from the porch when Techno broke off from the others in a dead sprint. Straight towards you. You saw him look up, could see the exact moment he noticed you--when his eyes widened and he turned back to face the soldiers rather than lead them to you. They caught up in less than a second, every one of them glaring.

"Guys, guys--" Techno chuckled nervously.

The one you guessed was the leader stepped forward. "Techno you'd better listen--we won't let you leave here in one fucking piece. We're just waiting for the chance to fuck you up for what you did. Either we can do this the easy way or the hard way, but you're coming with us to L'Manburg."

The fox-guy narrowed his eyes. "You're going to pay for what you did, Technoblade."

"If there's no other way... then I choose blood!!!" Techno roared as he struck the leader.

The clash of blade-against-armor and the shouts of the hunters filled the air--it was utter chaos. When Techno wounded one man, he would fall back while the other three closed ranks and the injured one healed. "Get him--GET HIM!" someone yelled. 

You'd been Techno fight monsters, but that was noting like he was against people. He was... even with four of them versus one of him, he made the battlefield look like a dance floor. In the most macabre way, you'd never seen him more comfortable. You watched as one by one they began to panic, and when their little formation started to crumble at the edges? That's when you struck.

You surged forward, brought your sword down on the weakest one's hip, heard it pop and crunch, heard a cry of pain--one that you cut off with a sharp thrust through a gap in his armor. He crumpled to the ground.

"Tubbo!!" One of them, who's face was half black and half grey, turned to face you as his friend fell.

With Techno on one side and you on the other, the hunters were forced to fight defensively. Their mistake--they should've run. You fell into a battle-rhythm, dodging and slashing in time your thudding pulse. Techno laughed as their shouts became stained with panic, with fear. He brought his sword down and another one went down.

You dragged your attention away from him to sidestep an axe, but it caught your leg and--because you'd left your armor upstairs--sliced through the skin there easily. You cried out--the pain was immediate, a burning unlike any fire, too distracting for you to avoid the shield bashing into your right shoulder. You staggered back, blood already spilling down your calf and onto the pristine snow. Your boot became slick with it, and though you did manage to recover, it was too late--you froze at the sword leveled at your chest.

"TECHNO!" The leader-guy shouted above the clamor of battle, not taking his attention off of you. 

Techno cut down the last of the hunters before his sight snapped over to you, chest heaving and eyes wild with bloodlust--eyes that widened when he saw the sword aimed at you. "Wait--what're you doing!?" He yelled as he stalked toward you two. "What're you doing with her!?"

The leader shifted to stand behind you and kicked your good knee out in the same motion. Your other leg couldn't support all your weight and you fell, the impact jarring the wound. You cried out again involuntarily as the wound burned in roiling waves, radiating, every little movement reigniting it--

You grimaced as your hair was tugged back to expose your neck, the cool edge of a netherite sword pressing above your collarbone. "You pull any shit, I'm going to fucking kill her." The man spat out. You could feel warm blood dribbling down your leg and pooling beneath you, staining everything it touched. Your nose was inundated with the all-too-familiar scent of iron.

Techno's stare turned downright murderous. "You leave her out of this, she's innocent." He took another step forward, every inch of his body language screaming 'danger, stay the fuck away'. 

The other three soldiers were back on their feet already, at varying stages of healing from potions. They formed a loose circle around Techno but wisely kept their distance. "Not another fucking step or I'll fucking--I'll fucking slay her, Technoblade!" The leader guy barked out.

"Big Q, I don't think--" one of them glanced at you, uncertainty written plainly on his face, but the one with a sword to your throat cut him off.

"Let me handle this, Tubbo." He snapped.

Your head felt too light and too heavy at the same time--you struggled to keep your neck away from the blade. Techno's eyes fixed on you, flicking from your face, to the blade at your neck, to your leg and back up to the leader. "What do you want." He finally ground out.

"Drop your shit. All of it."

"Everything, Technoblade." Tubbo echoed.

"Drop everything--EVERYTHING. Or I'm going to kill her right in front of you."

'Don't do it' you pleaded him silently. 

Techno wouldn't meet your eyes.

He threw his sword down into the snow wordlessly. His axe followed, then shield and bow. A dozen potions. Ender pearls. Arrows. He could've won if you just... stayed back, you realized. Whatever plans they had for Techno, whatever they did to him--it was on you. Horror washed over you like a bucket of icy water.

You were freezing in the literal sense as well. Like, you were beginning to shiver dangerously close to 'Big Q's very sharp blade. 

"Your armor too, Techno." The fox-guy ordered. 

Each piece joined the pile with four heavy thuds, one after the other. The three men collected his gear with stunned murmurs at how ridiculously over-prepared he'd been to fight. He just glared at the leader, standing completely still. His hair floated around his face in the frigid arctic wind. 

You shivered again, tilting sideways dangerously before the hand in your hair caught you. Techno's eyes were on you now, and though his jaw was clenched, you saw the veiled concern. You tried for a reassuring smile. Judging by his reaction, you didn't quite hit the mark.

"Let her go, Quackity."

The man behind you scoffed. "And give up the only thing keeping you from killing us? No, I don't think so."

Techno clenched his fists, very obviously struggling to keep his voice neutral. "If you don't get her help, she's going to bleed out." He paused, and when he spoke again his words were tempered by absolute certainty. "And if she dies--Quackity, I will make sure you think of death as a mercy."

Tense silence fell over everybody as the full weight of Techno's words settled in.

After another few moments, Quackity took his sword from your neck and held it at the back of your head instead, jerking his chin towards you. Your head dipped forward, but Techno was in front of you in a half second with a hand againt your cheek, inspecting your face for something. His fingers were nice and warm on your skin, drawing a pleased hum from you.

"Here, have some blue--calm yourself." You heard Ghostbur say distantly. 

Techno tore off his overcoat and pressed it firmly down on your leg. You instinctively grabbed at his wrist as the burning returned, your features twisting into a grimace. "I can't help but notice we've been here before." He joked, but you could tell by the subtle tremor in his hands that he was more affected than he let on.

The half-and-half guy held a potion out to him awkwardly. "Does--uh, does this help?"

Techno took it without a word. You could faintly hear the other soldiers speaking, but it sounded like they were underwater. Or maybe you were?

"Hey." A warm hand on your cheek tugged your attention back to a pair of pretty red eyes. You blinked. "Hey, you need to stay with me. Open up."

A firm hand at the back of your head supported you as something cool pressed against your lips. The sweet-rich flavor of healing potion hit your tongue a moment later. You spluttered weakly, trying to turn your head, but he didn't let go until you drank it all. Warmth began to spread from your throat down through your stomach, a blissful relief in comparison to the all-consuming cold that had gripped you. 

Your head tipped forward but Techno caught you, held you up until the world didn't spin quite so badly. Your forehead rested against his shoulder, his arms steadying, gentle, warm. You sucked in a few breaths as the life returned to you. He held you a bit closer than he needed to, not that you minded too much. 

A hand wrapped around your arm and tugged you out of his embrace. You stumbled to your feet, still woozy from bloodloss and now from the intoxication of the healing pot. "Technoblade we're going to bring you back to L'Manburg and you're going to face trial, you understand?"

Techno stood. His shirt and knees were covered in blood--your blood, and there was... a lot more of it in the snow at your feet. "Yes." He said simply.

"Okay," Quackity relaxed just a hair; maybe he'd expected more resistance. "If you put up another fight I will kill her, and don't you fucking try me."

Techno's eyes hardened, but he nodded. "Okay."

"Fellas," Quackity grinned at each of the other soldiers with a glint in his eye. "Let's escort him back to L'Manburg."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, this one was INTENSE. Hopefully it wasn't too much? I haven't written something like this before so again, any constructive criticism or pointers are more than welcome! 
> 
> Unfortunately I had to sacrifice a lot of the funny dialogue from the original streams for this one cuz it just wasn't as *dramatic* otherwise. Also Carl didn't get threatened in this one because duh, reader is there, and also the voices don't give Techno donations in this, so it wouldn't make sense for him to care so much. 
> 
> With all that info out of the way, I hope you enjoyed! It was a blast to go into uncharted water with this one. Stay tuned for the second half of the execution plot!


	9. Kangaroo Court

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW for: violence, hints at PTSD, and i have no idea how to do this without spoiling the chapter but if being, like, carried and restrained and stuff is a problem for you please be careful :3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason this chapter was ridiculously hard for me to write, but now that I've finally just finished it I feel so much better. Thank you to everybody for your support so far, because I probably would've given up if I didn't have y'all cheering me on. That's not to pressure you into commenting/kudos/bookmarking--just by reading you've done enough! But I just wanted to thank the people who took that extra step because it wouldn't have happened without y'all <3
> 
> there's a chance I'll go back in a bit and revise/proofread the last half later because i'm not super happy with it, but i just wanted to put something out since it's been two days and honestly i'm probably overthinking how good/bad it is lol. i'll let you get to reading now, apologies for the longer note!!
> 
> as always, hope you enjoy!

So this was L'Manburg. 

It was beautiful, but... oddly subdued. You took in the buildings with a dull sense of deja vu, too tired to be frustrated at your memories--or rather your lack thereof. Your party of six (plus Carl) had been traveling for several hours, and even though you'd been on the horse so your leg didn't slow everyone down, your eyes were heavy with fatigue. You shifted in the saddle, risking a glance to Techno on your left, flanked by a solider on each side. You couldn't get a read on his facial expression, so you turned your mind to the others as a distraction.

You'd gotten plenty of time to figure your captors out to some extent or another. Quackity was the leader--assertive, single-minded, but immature. Tubbo was quiet and careful, not as prone to fight as the others but still willing to do what he thought he had to. Fundy wasn't above a few jabs at Tehcno, but at the same time his actions were thoughtful, calculated. Ranboo was probably the softest one there--in fact he didn't seem to have anything personally against Technoblade, and he'd inadvertently saved your life back at the cabin.

"You actually got 'im." Phil's stunned voice snapped you out of your reflection.

He stood on a balcony, staring down at the procession as it stopped before a pier-like wooden road rising out of a coral pond. You left Carl's saddle, wincing as you put weight on your bad leg. Ranboo led him away without a word. 

The others didn't wait for you to recover before they continued across the wooden planks toward... some kind of tall mechanism on a stage facing a several rows of empty wooden chairs. Tubbo stayed by your side, keeping a deliberate distance between you and Techno.

As Phil spoke, Techno shrugged off Quackity's arm on his shoulder to walk to the edge of the platform toward Phil. He craned his neck up to look at his friend, resisting as Quackity tried to pull him away. "Phil--Phil what did they do to you!?" 

"They put these--these ankle monitor boots on me. I can' leave my house." He answered, looking just about as helpless as you felt.

"He's under house arrest, Technoblade!" Tubbo crowed from the other side of the platform. 

Techno turned his burning stare on the soldiers. "You guys leave Phil alone! Leave him alone, just take me!"

Quackity shoved him roughly towards a sign on the wall--a wanted poster that held his likeness. You grit your teeth, taking a step toward the smug bastard. You were going to fucking strangle him--

You hadn't made another step before you were tugged back by a rough hand on each of your arms. Ranboo had come back just in time. Techno looked over to you before he quit resisting and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm the poster. You can't see me right now, I blend in too well." He joked dryly.

The four soldiers chuckled, relaxing their hold on you to relish in their victory. Techno took off in a sprint and leapt off the platform into the water, the guard's laughter fading to confused shouting as he swam away. Fundy jumped in after him and Ranboo and Tubbo took off to cut off his escape. That left you and Quackity.

You rushed him, but he must've heard you coming because he turned to face you--just not in time. You didn't really think--your body moved on its own as you grabbed hold of the plates of his armor and lifted yourself off the ground, swinging your legs behind his back to wrap around his neck. You threw your weight toward the ground and his body had no choice but to slam down in a dazed jumble, firmly immobilized by your calves around his throat and arm. 

You laid there stunned--how the fuck did you do that??

You didn't have long to puzzle over it before a sword swam into your vision, the metal of it sizzling. You traced the blade up to Fundy, dripping wet and looking thoroughly pissed off. "Technoblade!" He shouted above the chaos of Tubbo and Ranboo and Phil all yelling. "Technoblade if you don't stop--RIGHT NOW--I'm going to kill her!"

You squeezed your legs around Quackity's throat, taking satisfaction in the strangled, panicked gargle he let out. You challenged Fundy silently, smirking as your captive struggled in your grip. "Let him go." He growled, his glare sharp.

The edges of the netherite armor bit into your legs as you squeezed harder, but you didn't ease up-- even when Quackity began thrashing. He was getting desperate. You planned to suffocate the asshole right then and there, your own life be damned if it gave Techno the chance to escape--

...Until you watched him get shepherded back onto the platform out of the corner of your eye. Quackity's flailing was getting weaker. You could kill him right then and there. You didn't know these people--all you knew was that they were angry, dangerous, and they'd hurt the few people you cared about.

Fundy stepped back and leveled his blade to Techno's throat. "Let. Him. Go." He repeated, his eyes glinting. 

You waited another moment before releasing Quackity. He shoved himself away from you, blue in the face and gasping for breath. His voice was scratchy and strained when he turned to glare at you. "You fucking bitch." He spat out. 

You saw the flicker of fear hidden behind his anger, and you sneered.

Fundy's sword returned to hovering over your sternum, keeping you still. Ranboo and Tubbo approached you again, but this time they looked far less certain when they wrapped a hand around each of your biceps and forearms and hauled you up.

"Alright--that escape plan didn't really work out," Techno chuckled, his wet hair falling in his eyes. He wouldn't even look at you. Guilt slithered behind your ribs to settle heavy over your lungs. 

Quackity massaged his neck tenderly, but he couldn't soothe his pride. You smirked, raising your chin in defiance as he glared back at you. "Fucking behave." He warned you before his attention flicked to Techno. "Tubbo, get him in the cage."

Fundy's hands on you replaced Tubbo's as the boy walked up the steps to the raised structure. There was--there was a cage of iron bars sitting on it, with a glass pane at the front and obsidian beneath. "Come up here, Techno." Tubbo said firmly.

You went very still as your gaze trailed up the odd structure. Red torches lined the side of a tall wooden pillar which was attached to a horizontal beam at the top. At the bottom of the pillar was a lever, and at the end of the of the beam, suspended thirty feet over the cage, was... an anvil. Your eyes widened as another wave of mixed realization and horror washed over you. 

Techno stepped back with a nervous chuckle as he came to the same conclusion. "Uh, wait I-I-I... I need a chance to defend myself--" He stammered. "What--what is this, a... a kangaroo court!?"

Quackity stepped forward and shoved him to the stairs, ignoring him completely. "Open it, Tubbo." he ordered as they walked up on the platform. Techno dug in his heels, but Quackity didn't hesitate to guide him forward roughly. He stumbled into the cage and turned back as Tubbo shut the door with a final clang. Techno stepped away from the bars and raised his eyes above him to the anvil. "Y'know I--I can't help but feel like this whole trial thing is, uh--just kinda a farce and you've already--you've already determined the outcome."

Quackity turned to the empty chairs on the platform with a smile, his eyes drifting over Phil, you, the other soldiers, and the people slowly filtering toward you from the nearby buildings. He looked back at his prisoner. "Technoblade, this isn't an actual trial. What's gonna happen is we're gonna pull that lever, and that up there is gonna drop on you and it's going to fucking kill you."

Techno looked back up and raised a brow. "Well to be honest I only see a wooden slab, I think it's a matter of perspective here--"

"Technoblade there is a fucking anvil." Tubbo ground out with his fists clenched at his sides.

Ranboo nodded next to you, but his tone was neutral as he spoke. "I can confirm that there is, in fact, an anvil."

Your mind was racing, trying to figure out how the actual fuck he was going to get out of this one, but you... you couldn't think of anything. Nothing short of an army could get him out of that cage and away from this city. An army that didn't exist, unless one counted you, essentially with only one leg, Phil trapped in his house, and Technoblade securely contained in the cage. Under that anvil. 

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckfuckfuck--

You tried to wrench your arms free, tried to kick at Ranboo's shins and---and get to Techno, and then you had no idea but you had to TRY. Fundy shoved you to your knees and wrcneched your arms behind your back, ignoring the shout of pain he caused. Ranboo opened his mouth to protest, but dropped it with a frown as Quackity spoke up. "Tubbo, could you do the honors of explaining to our friends what's happening?"

The boy cleared his throat as he stepped forward, looking down on the quiet crowd. "Technoblade has robbed our country. Robbed it! Of everything that made it special! Of everything that defined it as what it was. He stepped in when he shouldn't have," You met his gaze and narrowed your eyes, hoping he could see your unbridled rage. He looked away quickly. "He creates chaos! He ruined the government!"

Techno looked to Phil and you watched from the ground, your heart racing, as an unspoken conversation passed between them. Then a snowball smacked Tubbo square in the chest. Confused murmurs broke out in the crowd, everybody glancing around to see where it came from. Another volley soared through the air and rained down on the soldiers.

"Punz??"

The guy, 'Punz', dropped onto the platform and quickly splashed a few potions at his feet. By then the soldiers had let you go, scrambling to understand what was going on--

In the blink of an eye there was TNT on the platform. A lot of it.

The men's voices raised in pitch as they scrambled to dismantle the explosives before Punz could light it. Fighting broke out quickly, people shouting and dodging and scrapping the TNT as quickly as he put it down. Your guards let you go to deal with him--you took that as your chance to run for Techno. Your leg buckled as you raced up the steps, but you recovered and stumbled toward him. Your hands shook as they flitted over the bars, searching frantically for any weaknesses. Techno just stared back at you from inside as you panicked, your breaths coming out in shaky gasps.

"Somebody pull the lever!" You heard Tubbo scream. You froze for a heartbeat before redoubling your efforts. There wasn't--you didn't have the key. You couldn't open the door without the fucking key. "Big Q, pull the lever!!!" He shouted again. 

An idea struck you--a really dumb, desperate idea. You scrambled around to the glass pane in the front of the cage and brought your elbow back, slamming it into the glass so hard you lost feeling in your elbow. The pane shattered, spraying shards onto the floor at Techno's feet. You reached in, the sharp edges of the glass slicing the backs of your arms as you grasped Techno's shirt, your teeth grit, desperate to get hm out.

The lever clicked. 

Your eyes snapped over to see Quackity, his hand still wrapped around it, his chest heaving, his stare burning into Tehcno. "NO!" You turned back to Techno in time to see him lunge forward to shove you off the platform. You couldn't tear your eyes from him, just managed to catch a glimpse of something gold in his hand before--

Your back slammed into ghround, driving the air from your lungs and cracking your head against the floor. The anvil fell with a clang, buckling the wooden platform around the obsidian. You expected to see red, oozing, crunching--but the cage was obscured by brilliant flashes of green and gold, blindingly bright. You were trying to blink the spots of of your sight when someone landed next to you and hauled you to your feet.

You stumbled as Techno--he was alive??--dragged you along, your boots pounding against the wooden planks. You dove into the water, cutting of the confused shouts from the soldiers and crowd. Seconds later you kicked to the surface, spluttering, your mind stuck ten seconds behind when Techno... died. How was he alive??

You crawled onto the shore, dripping wet and coughing up water. Adrenaline kept you going despite the blood running down your arms, the exhaustion threatening to drag you down. You got to your feet and hooked a hand under Techno' s arm to help him up. He smiled at you, though he looked pretty rough himself. "What did I tell you? Technoblade never dies."

You rolled your eyes with a huff, but froze as your gaze landed on a figure standing at the mouth to a tunnel in the hill. Your breath trembled as you saw him, and though you--you couldn't explain WHY, you knew exactly who it was. Standing before you, with one hand holding Carl's reigns, stood a man in a bone-white mask. A primitive smile was etched onto the surface, and he wore a green hooded tunic to cover the rest of his head. You shuddered.

Techno followed your line of sight, tensing as he noticed the man. "That's... not good." He sighed. His hand slid in yours and tugged you closer to his side, gently, before you approached Dream together. You were maybe ten feet from him when he turned and disappeared into the tunnel with Carl. You hesitated to follow, every single fibre of your being screaming that you should just run as far and as fast as you could. 

The shouting was still too close; you'd be seen if you tried to leave. Techno looked back at you, urgency and reluctance mixing in his eyes. "We, uh, don't exactly have another choice. I'm sorry--this isn't..." he cut himself off. His grip on your hand tightened, just a touch. There was a boom in the background--you flinched. "We--we gotta go."

He was right. You'd be fine, you told yourself. If Dream wanted to kill you, he would've done it by now. Right?

You let Techno guide you closer to his side as you entered the tunnel. He out himself between you and Dream, eyeing the other man carefully as he left Carl to block up the entrance to the tunnel. He turned back to the two of you, his mask tilting just a touch to the side. You wanted to sink into the floor, the wall, anything to get away from that stare. "Head down. There's a chest."

His voice alone sent icy fear down your spine. You pressed closer against Techno, as if that was possible, never taking your eyes off of Dream as he just... looked at you. Your companion grabbed Carl and ushered you down the hall to a room with black stone walls. Only when Dream was safely out of sight did you relax, marginally. "Guess he's just creepy like that." Techno tried to joke. "He says five words and somehow manages to be more unsettlin' than Quackity--and that guy's absolutely crazy." 

You were somewhere else entirely, remembering the mask. You recognized it as soon as you laid eyes on it. It was practically burned into your memory. You felt like the anvil was pressing down on your lungs and steadily crushing the air out of your lungs. You clenched your fists, cutting little crescent moons into your palms with your nails as fear washed over you in flashes of heat, tempered by a cool sense of dread. 

Quackity's shout knocked you away from your spiraling thoughts. "Techno! Techno what the fuck are you doing here!? How the HELL are you alive!?"

He chuckled nervously. "Uhh--it's--it's not what it looks like. It's not what it..."

"How the FUCK did that anvil not kill you??" Quackity took another step forward as he drew his sword.

In a way you were grateful he showed up--it was easy to turn fear into anger, and after what he did earlier you were more than ready to kick his ass again. Techno put a hand in front of you, barring you from moving. You glanced back at him in surprise; why... why didn't he want you to fight??

You didn't even have time to protest before you and Carl were shoved into the tunnel leading out, and Techno sealed it up. You banged your fist against the stone; that fucking idiot was going to get a piece of your mind as soon as he opened the wall back up. Your anger and disbelief were a warm welcome compared to the icy fear that had gripped you earlier, but it didn't last long. The passage was pitch black except for a soft light at the end , which lead to who-knows-where. You stumbled toward it, but the tunnel was barely big enough for two people--you'd come back to get Carl after investigating.

As you limped down the cramped corridor you could've sworn you heard footsteps. You stopped short to listen for several moments, but there was nothing. Maybe it was just the thump of your heart in your ears. You finally reached the end and found a small drop into--you nearly gagged at the smell. A sewer system. Fantastic.

You heard footsteps again, whirled around to face the noise and--and froze. 

"Did you miss me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already said this in reply to a comment, but this chapter was a monster to finish, probably because it involved studying several more streamers to get their mannerisms down, and even then I used a lot of dialogue verbatim lol. I sincerely hope you liked it even though it was more of a plot chapter than a fluffy one! and I ended on another cliffhanger which I'm well aware is torture but I'm just a big meanie like that ;p
> 
> also! as usual, i'd love to hear any feedback on what you liked/feel could be improved, especially involving the characterization! oki bye now love you guys :3


	10. The Mask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW for non-graphic violence, emotional/psychological manipulation, gaslighting, someone's hand on reader's neck briefly, and generally creepy shit! this is probably one of the most intense chapters in the story and I want you lovelies to take care of yourselves, so if you do read this please do so with caution! <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> like i said in my warning above, this chapter is probably as intense as i'll go with this story! but as one reader commented earlier: you can't have the comfort without the hurt! i didn't proofread through the last bit of it because im at the point where i'll just start to overthink, so here y'all go! i hope you like it and i promise to make up for this one with some fluff in the future lol
> 
> oh also! just a reminder that this is based on the characters in the Dream SMP and is obviously not what I think of the creators themselves
> 
> thank you again for all the support in the comments section,, this is probably getting repetitive but its just unbelievable that y'all are so excited about this story. I hope you enjoy the chapter!!

"Did you miss me?"

Even before you saw him you knew who the voice belonged to, and it made your blood turn to ice. With wide eyes you turned to look at Dream, standing maybe fifteen feet away on the other side of the sewer, his hands tucked away in the pocket of his tunic.

You took a step back, your sight flicking to the little tunnel you'd dropped from-- for a moment your considered climbing back up and somehow getting Techno's attention. You discarded the plan almost instantly; even if your arms weren't torn up, your leg wasn't mostly useless and you weren't frankly about to drop dead, he would reach you long before you made it up the short climb.

He hopped over to your side of the sewer walkway with the grace of a cat, effectively dashing any hopes of running back to Techno. As he approached you felt your heart climb to your throat. Even with the casual way he held himself, there was something completely terrifying about his unwavering attention on you--so intensely focused that you would have crawled out of your skin to get away if you could.

You tried to breathe slowly, to calm yourself, but your lungs just--just couldn't take in air. You stumbled back a step to keep distance between you and him, your mind devoid of anything but panic. He kept walking toward you, forcing you to backpedal faster and faster. You nearly tripped over your own feet, too terrified to look away in case he chose that split second to strike.

"I'm not trying to hurt you. I just need you to come with me--to help me." He cajoled, like he wasn't pinning you down with the blank smile on his mask like a lion would track its prey.

You turned and sprinted away from the eery monotone in his voice--it was nothing like Techno's flat sarcasm; Dream's was cold and distant and deceptively calm. The sewer seemed to stretch on... and on... and on... Your leg protested every labored pound of your boots against the stone, your lungs burned with every jagged breath--and still you kept pushing, desperate to get any distance you could from him.

As you fled, you constantly shoved away little flashes of memory--running in the snowy forest pursued not by illagers this time--by Dream, his shouts dampened by the snowfall but never far behind you.

You found yourself at a crossroads in the sewer and didn't hesitate to go left; you couldn't afford to waste a moment deliberating, and hopefully this tunnel led to an exit or looped back to where you left Techno. Dream's footsteps never faltered at your back. You could almost imagine him reaching for you, snatching you back and throwing you into the snow. Could see yourself scrambling to get away from his axe and barely dodging, the blade instead carving a gash from your collarbone to your hip, a burst of agony and renewed fear--

Another split in the sewer--you went left again without thinking. You glanced over your shoulder and--and he was still keeping up. When you turned your attention forward again you skidded to a stop just before you crashed into a wall--how had you not seen the dead end?? You whirled around to face Dream, your heart sinking to your feet as you realized you were trapped.

He stopped a little distance away, cocking his head to the side as he stared at you. Your heavy panting and the running water were the only sounds in the tunnel for a long moment. Dream finally spoke, a little breathless himself: "You know, I was starting to wonder where you ran off to. I... I was worried you were dead. I should've gone to Technoblade's house sooner."

You pressed your back against the cold stone behind you, your eyes snapping wildly around to find anything--to escape or fight or... or... well those were your only two options. And you didn't find a single damn thing to help with either.

He took a step towards you, holding his hands out placatingly. "I just want to help you, but I can't do that if you don't tell me where it is." You didn't attempt to hide your very obvious confusion--surely he didn't mean the dingy iron sword you'd woken up with, but you had nothing else. Why would he go through so much trouble for that piece of junk?

Dream snorted derisively. "Don't pretend you don't know. Here," He retrieved a worn notebook from his bag and tossed it at you. Your fingers trembled so badly you almost dropped it. You glanced up at him, still terrified but--also surprised. He knew you didn't talk..? "Just... tell me where it is, and we can go find it together."

You opened the book and flipped through it quickly, your eyes widening as you skimmed over the words scribbled in... in your handwriting. A lot of 'understood's and... were those reports? On Schlatt, and Tubbo, and Quackity and somebody named Eret--the names went on and on, with little columns of items next to them. "Tell me where it is, and I promise you can come back, no strings attached." Dream urged. You pulled your attention back up to him as he held out a mask like his, dangling between his fingers by the straps. It was bloody on the right side where a spiderweb of cracks scarred the smooth surface, and... achingly familiar.

The dark eyes pierced into you as the extra mask turned this way and that. ሃዐሁ ልዪቿ ክዐፕዘጎክኗ ሠጎፕዘዐሁፕ ሁነ. ርዐጠቿ ጌልርጕ, ረቿፕ ሁነ ጠልጕቿ ሃዐሁ ሠዘዐረቿ ልኗልጎክ. It purred to you in a thousand overlapping voices that pushed at the back of your skull. You grimaced as a heavy pressure settled in your mind like a coat of lead. The sea of murmurs jumbled together into a dull roar, steadily rising in pitch and volume but never coherent enough to make out words--they where crowded, overwhelming, too much too much TOO MUCH--

Dream gazed down at you like you were an especially small insect and retracted the mask. The voices quieted, though they were still there. The weight was still there. You shrank back when he took another step closer, his shadow falling over you. "You know I hate it when you act like this--you make me feel like I'm the bad guy, and--and you're the one who stole from me! I KNOW YOU HAVE IT!" His voice echoed loudly off the walls as he loomed over you, his hands clenched into fists.

You flinched with wide eyes as you stared up at him. After a moment he sighed softly as he crouched to your level, balancing on the balls of his feet. "Look... I'm sorry, okay? I've been under a lot of stress lately because of what you did and I--I shouldn't have yelled. But by hiding it from me, you haven't done anything but hurt me--hurt yourself, even. And after everything I've done for you--you... you owe me at least this much."

A pang of guilt fluttered in your chest, slicing it up into little ribbons. You gaze dropped to the book in your hands. He reached out and set his fingers under your chin, wrapping just the tiniest bit around your neck. He tilted your sight back up to the bone-white mask that tilted to the right. His grip was almost-painful--a stark contrast to his quietness as he spoke: "I won't ask again. Give me the book."

The mask's smile filled your field of vision, replacing every tangible thought with the overpowering murmur of the voices. Your lungs tightened, your fingers hands digging into the stone under you as you tried desperately to remember. You just wanted to give him what he wanted and make him feel better. To feel whole again, as the voices promised. But try as you might, your memories came up blank. You doubted he meant the journal in your lap, or Techno's book on animal farms, or 'The Republic', sitting on your end table back home. Home...

He tightened his grip on your throat to squeeze your windpipe ever-so-carefully. Your lips began to tingle, your head a little fuzzy from lack of blood. "Don't try and play dumb, alright? I know you're the one who took it. Did you show Techno where it is? Does he have it?" Every word dripped like honey, soaking you in static and haze. "Because if he does... I'm going to take it from his cold, dead hands."

Something about that jarred you out of the fog, your eyes coming back into focus while a crease appeared between your brows. You agonizingly pulled yourself from the gravity of the mask--it felt like dragging yourself from a pool of tar. But the thought of Techno's cloak stained with his blood as he lay in the snow and Dream ripped the book from his fingers was disturbing enough to shake off the stupor. Techno, smiling down at you as he clasped the cloak around your shoulders, hugging you tightly as you both came down from the adrenaline-high of nearly dying in the ravine, throwing down his sword in the snow for you, pushing you away from the anvil with panic swimming in his dark red eyes.

You broke free of Dream's control, the voices and the overwhelming presence falling away like cobwebs before you gripped his wrist and glared. Anger bubbled acrid and wild in your chest. He could threaten you all day, but Techno? Techno was off. Fucking. Limits. You shoved him away with a grunt, rage burning up the last of his mind-fuckery.

Dream stumbled back, though he managed to stay on his feet. The shadows seemed to draw in around him like a second skin as he stood to his full height and laughed lowly. "You should've just helped me." A netherite axe appeared in his hand; the purple glow of its enchantments reflected up against his mask and cast the smile in eery light.

Then he wasn't standing still anymore.

You snatched up the journal and threw yourself to the side--just in time to feel the breeze of his axe brush past your hair, to hear it bite into the stone where your head was. You glanced at him as you scrambled to your feet, your heart thudding against your ribs. He tore his weapon out of the wall and turned to face you, sending every nerve along your spine to ice.

You debated your options as he stepped toward you: like before, you could either fight or run. And if you ran, you could hazard a guess that he was very, very accurate with that axe.

You settled into your fighting stance without another moment's hesitation, stubbornly ignoring the stabbing pain of your leg--and the cuts on the back of your arms--and the slow trickle of blood at the back of your head--and sheer exhaustion that gripped you. Put simply, your odds were slim.

You could work with slim.

Dream rushed toward you with surprising speed. You barely had time to sidestep his downward swing before you grabbed a fistful of his hood and swung, slamming his mask hard enough against the wall to hear a wet crack. He staggered back, giving you the chance to try and disarm him--or it would've, if he hadn't lashed out blindly with the axe and caught you across your stomach. You backpedaled to give yourself time to recover, one hand going up to hover over the cut. It took a moment for the flash of searing pain and a dribble of blood to appear under your shaking fingers.

Dream lifted the bottom of his mask and spat out a glob of blood into the water before slowly turning his attention back to you. Both of you just stared each other down for a moment, the tension thick enough to cut. You flicked your attention down to his hand where he still clutched the mask--which was a mistake. He took the chance to dart toward you and throw his shin into your side. You braced and absorbed most of the blow, but the sheer force behind his kick still sent you to tumbling on the other side of the canal.

You turned your face into the stone and sucked in a heaving breath, panic threatening to overwhelm you as you saw his boots swim into your vision. Your eyes widened a split second before (purely by instinct) you rolled to the side. His boot stomped down inches from your arm. You got to your feet again but he was pressing his advantage ruthlessly, using brute force to wear you down little by little as you backpedaled toward the main tunnel.

When he got a little too confident and kicked out a little too far you took maybe the only opening you'd get--you grabbed his ankle and shoved his leg up, setting him off balance before you brought your fist up to meet his jaw in a wild haymaker. He reeled back with a pained grunt, but your satisfaction was short-lived. He slowly turned to look up at you, and you could fucking hear the grin in his voice when he spoke. "You've gotten rusty, hiding behind Techno," He leveled his axe at you, still gleaming with your blood. "I'm done playing. Show me where the book is, or I'll make you WATCH me carve that smug pig OPEN!"

Your lip curled up in a half-smile, half-snarl as your brought your hands back to a ready stance. He might've sounded threatening, terrifying even... if his voice wasn't so nasally from the broken nose you had the pleasure of giving him.

"Fine. Have it your way." Dream growled. He didn't waste a moment to attack you again, this time throwing a feint at your side, then slamming his foot into your hurt thigh. Pain burst from the gash, distracting you just long enough for him to kick you again square in the sternum. Your head cracked against the floor for the second time that day as you fell back. The sharp throb sent your stomach churning.

The tunnel spun dangerously under you as you propped yourself up on one forearm, your body aching as you strained to get up get up, GET UP-- You looked to Dream with panic-wide eyes as he stalked closer, every line of his frame screaming smugness and violence. So this is it, huh?

A blade fell into your vision and stopped Dream in his tracks.

You snapped your sight back (which was a horrible idea, OW) and nearly sobbed in relief when your gaze landed on Technoblade. He lifted the blade to point at Dream, his voice hard. "That's enough, Dream."

Dream paused for a moment before inclining his head in an easy greeting, his body language deceptively casual even with the bloody axe in his hand and the mask in the other. "Technoblade! I'm surprised to see you're still in L'Manburg. What, uh... what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just passin' through and thought I'd see who was fightin'." Techno didn't take his eyes off Dream as he helped you to your feet and guided you behind him. 

The mask stared daggers past Techno's shoulder and directly at you. His voice was less friendly this time as his grip around the axe tightened. "We were in the middle of something, actually."

"That's gonna be a problem then--see, I already had plans with her. Prior engagements and all, I'm sure you understand."

Dream nodded thoughtfully. "...Are you sure, Technoblade? Even if, hypothetically... I asked you to hand her over? You do owe me, for helping you escape. And for the totem--the only reason you're alive right now."

Your mouth went dry as you looked up at Techno's back--surely he wouldn't. He shifted on his feet, but his voice was even when he answered. "Is that really what you want to use your favor for, Dream? To keep beatin' up an amnesiac in a sewer? You can't think of any better reason than that?"

The mask tilted. When Dream spoke again you could hear the interest in his tone--you realized with a growing sense of dread that he hadn't known about your memory, and had the worst feeling he was already spinning ways to use that to his advantage. "...Huh. I... I suppose... I--I'll save that favor for another time. You can keep your stray for now, Techno."

"Great." Techno replied tersely. "You--you'll have to forgive me, but we... we should be goin', since I have an entire city out to get me." He narrowed his eyes. "Maybe you'll be able to sympathize, one day."

Dream shrugged, the axe and mask disappearing as he returned his hands to his tunic pocket. "Maybe so." He hopped to the opposite side of the water and sauntered to the main tunnel before he leaned to the side to look directly at you, his hands tucked into his pockets. You shuddered, remembered that leering smile on the other side of a crossbow as you risked a glance over your shoulder, remembered the bolt slamming into your side as you tried to dodge--

"I'll... I'll be seeing you around." He said with a note of finality. And then he disappeared around the corner without another glance.

As soon as he was out of sight you let yourself sag against the nearest wall and shut your eyes tightly against the spinning of the room. You pressed a hand to you stomach and winced, your fingertips coming away red. Techno tutted as he took you in. "I'm gone for thirty seconds to--" he hesitated, "...deal, with Quackity, and somehow you manage to pick a fight with Dream."

You snorted weakly as he draped your arm over his shoulders, making sure you wouldn't drop dead, and the two of you made your way through the maze of sewer tunnels before finally the smell of sewage faded into the sweet, crisp scent of fresh air. Your eyelids felt like lead weights by the time Techno helped you into Carl's saddle and hopped up behind you. 

You relaxed back into him shamelessly, in part because you were fucking exhausted and, also maybe just a little bit because you needed the closeness. Hey, don't judge--you hadn't been able to properly talk with him since he left on Dream's quest, and then you almost died and you were taken prisoner and then HE almost died and then you almost died AGAIN, and at Dream's hand no less--

So yeah, you were gonna get close. Not that there was much wiggle room in a saddle, mind you. Techno huffed when your head lolled back to rest on his collarbone. "You're ridiculous." He muttered. You could hear the smile in his voice, though--you couldn't help but smile yourself.

The sun was just starting to peak out over the horizon when your eyes slipped closed, and the rhythmic beat of Carl's hooves in the grass lulled you to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one was a little intense, huh? i hope it wasn't too much for y'all, since this is primarily supposed to be a romantic fanfic--I just loved the pure chaotic evil of Dream's character and wanted to experiment with writing that! as you might've picked up on, some spooky shit is going on with the voices... soon the pieces will start to fall together, i promise. this is where the canon divergence really starts! for now though until i show you more, i'd love to hear any feedback you have--and i adore looking over your theories!!
> 
> goobai until the next update!!


	11. Sweet as Honey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooooooo! It's been a little while, huh? Apologies for the delay, but I had to work a bit this week and this particular chapter needed research--it's also the longest one yet! Also, thank you so much to the comments section yet again?? Y'all are so supportive, and I'm Weak. A thank you as well to everybody who's left kudos, bookmarked, and shared, and honestly just read this far! I hope you enjoy!!

You and Techno (and Carl) returned to the cabin in the late afternoon—the trip back wouldn't normally take more than several hours, but hiding from the patrols around the forests skirting L'Manburg, taking several breaks to rest, and traveling over the ocean channel with a fucking horse soaked up one hour after another. Carl's hooves dragged in the snow by the time you crested the hill Techno and Phil had disappeared over nearly a week ago. You lifted your cheek from between Techno's shoulder blades (the optimal resting spot when it was Techno's turn to steer the horse, you'd discovered about halfway through the trip) to peer over his shoulder at the house.

Gods, you couldn't wait to fall in your bed and sleep for an entire day. A week maybe.

When you got closer to the house the two of you dismounted to lead Carl the rest of the way. Techno led him into to his stable, removed his tack, gave him brief brushing and made sure he wouldn't starve before turning to you and offering a hand. You took it gladly; the pain of your leg was agonizing, each step stabbing into the angry flesh as you limped up the porch. Tommy was nowhere in sight, though to be honest he was the least of your concerns at the moment. If Techno had enough energy to notice that his makeshift bed (you'd kinda... taken over his) was messy and unmade, he didn't seem to care.

He tossed his bag on the ground, grabbed a pot and a glass bottle from one of the chests, and left outside again. You settled on the bed with a grimace while you waited for him to come back, exhausted but in too much pain to actually rest. You took the time to examine your leg and blanched; the fabric of your pants had become glued to the irritated, puffy edges of the wound--no wonder it hurt so damn much, it was constantly being tugged at.

Techno came back in a minute or so later with honey dancing languidly in the bottle and snow filling up about two-thirds of the pot. He started a fresh fire, put the snow on to melt, collected several more items from the chests in the cellar, and then disappeared up into the loft. You climbed up after him, equally curious of what he was up to and uneasy at leaving him to do all the work.

He wasn't anywhere in the main loft area, so you peeked through the open door of the bathroom. He was dragging his armchair next to the claw-foot porcelain tub, next to the table with the bath products. You limped closer and he looked up at you, smiling faintly. "The chair's yours. I've gotta grab the water and then I'll take a look at your leg."

You nodded before you sank into the soft upholstery, never more grateful in your life that velvet existed. You ran your fingers along the arms, waiting, trying to distract yourself from the dull throb of you leg. Your arm hurt too, from where the glass shards of the cage's window cut into your tricep and armpit. Before... the anvil fell. You still had no idea how he'd survived that, but it probably had to do with the shower of green and gold lights--and hadn't Dream mentioned a totem of something in the sewer?

You shuddered at the recollection. As if on cue, you shifted in your seat and sent shockwaves of soreness down your spine, from your neck and--and your head, and your ribcage and fuck, pretty much everywhere. Dream was a brutal fighter. Even Quackity, as enraged he had been during the fight at the cabin, wasn't so vicious. So... inhuman. Completely focused, fueled by anger, and detached all at the same time. 

No wonder Dream was so goddamned cranky.

Techno's footsteps were soft as he entered the room again with the pot of now-melted water still faintly bubbling and steaming. He settled on the rim of the bathtub and set the pot on the slate-top side table that stood by the bath. The normal inhabitants of said table (Techno's soaps and oils) had been replaced by a smallish wooden box, the jar of honey, several rolls of bandages, a little opaque bottle, a white cloth, and the pot. 

"Alright," He rolled up his sleeves, then glanced over at you, "Do you know anything about medicine... or--or healin'?"

You shook your head, no.

He set his crown aside carefully and began to brush his fingers through his ruined braid, nodding. "I'll explain then. See--ideally, your leg would've gotten looked at a few hours ago, at the latest. The healin' potion I gave you stopped the worst of the bleedin', but I'm guessin' mostly it helped you get back the, uh, life-threatening amounts of blood you lost."

You remembered the cold that gnawed at you, the insignificant warmth of your blood dribbling down your thigh and Techno's hands flitting against your face, the richness of the potion as it heated you up from the inside. You nodded again. Your shaky, red-stained hands fiddled with the hem of your shirt.

Techno began piling his tangled, shell-pink locks back on his head. "Unfortunately we're--we're out of healing and regen potions, and your wounds can't wait for me to get the stuff to make more. I'm gonna have to patch you up the old fashioned way." He turned on the the tub faucet and waited until it was so hot you could see the steam rising from the water, then scrubbed his hands of blood and grime. You suspected that 'the old fashioned way' was probably unpleasant, but... he made a strong argument and you'd come this far--bleeding out seemed like a waste of time and energy. You nodded.

He grabbed a washcloth, ran it under the scalding water, and wrung it out with a quiet grunt before turning back to you. "Leg up here, lemme get a look at it." He tapped the rim of the bathtub; you gingerly lifted your left leg and propped it up so your calf rested on the edge of the porcelain. Even that careful movement sent shocks of pain from your thigh through your spine--you could even feel it in your teeth, or... maybe that was just how hard you were gritting them. You exhaled slowly, shakily, while you leaned back in the chair and made a conscious effort to relax.

Techno gently pulled your leg across his lap so he could reach it better. Your skin thrummed under his fingers, but it wasn't... romantic, per se. Just the warm feeling of putting yourself in the hands of someone you trust--of security. Just the quiet realization that somehow the both of you were still alive, despite fortune's best efforts... and Dream's... and L'Manburg's.

He unlaced your boot and gently worked it off your foot, mumbling an apology when you twitched in discomfort. Your eyes zeroed in on the small blade he picked up from the table. You knew he wouldn't hurt you, but it made you tense nonetheless, as if by muscle memory.

Techno noticed, one of his hands going to rub at the back of his neck as he smiled apologetically. "I uh, I--I have to cut the pants off on this side. Can't exactly take care of this otherwise." You nodded again, after a moment's hesitation; it was just a pair of pants and you didn't have anything to be meek about--you trusted him. He cut away the fabric as close to the injury as he could (about six inches above your knee) and put the blade aside to press a soaked cloth over the gash.

After a minute or so, the waterlogged rag had softened the blood-crusted border of fabric and flesh. He tutted softly as he peeled it away, while your nails dug into the chair and you exhaled shakily. "Well... on the bright side--this could be worse, considerin' what it's been put through. Shame about the pants though." You snorted with a weak smile, keeping your attention trained on him to distract yourself from the sharp tugs of pain. 

Techno added a healthy dash of whatever was in the little opaque bottle to the boiled water, dipped the tweezers in the pot to stir it for a moment, and shot you an apologetic look. "This is gonna hurt, but I need to clean out the debris and dirt. You can smack me later if you want."

...hah, great. Just great.

He kept glancing up to check on you as he worked to remove pieces of grass and fabric and hair--each time he checked, you'd try for a reassuring smile to hide the fact that it was, put simply, agonizing. 

Desperate to distract yourself, you followed the curve of his jaw, the eyelashes that framed his dark red eyes, the prominent scars that decorated his face. One of them ran horizontally across the bridge of his nose, and the other marked his right eye, from above his eyebrow to his cheek. You chuffed faintly when it dawned on you that they formed a 'T', though you doubted it was intentional. Well, actually--knowing him...

A particularly strong flare of pain was enough for you to gasp, your leg kicking involuntarily. Techno just managed to snatch the tweezers away so you couldn't stab yourself. He took that as his cue to stop for a bit and let you catch your breath, though your mind had already been tugged back to the night you'd gotten injured in the first place. The two of you had passed the large bloodstain on your way into the house--you hadn't missed the way he held you a little closer to his side, and steered you away from it. 

Kinda how his hold on your leg was firmer now to prevent you from moving as he returned to his work. Guilt clawed at you, steadily growing as you replayed the memory over and over again in your head. You should've noticed Fundy's axe a little sooner or maybe dodged just a second faster or... hell, you should've just stayed out of Techno's way. He'd refused to even look at you when he threw his blade down in the snow--had he been angry? Disappointed? He didn't seem that way now.

(He'll send you away soon.) The now-familiar voices purred. (You serve no purpose, and you know he only keeps what's useful to him.) Rationally you knew they were full of shit, but... you couldn't help the discomfort churning under your skin at the thought. You hadn't even told him about Tommy yet, or the journal for that matter. Just another way you'd betrayed him, you were more trouble than you were worth--

You yelped as a sudden burst of acrid heat snapped you out of your wallowing. Your leg spasmed involuntarily, trying to escape the horrible discomfort while you panted harshly, white-knuckling the arms of the chair. Techno's left hand held your thigh in place firmly enough this time to keep you from hurting yourself while he poured some of the boiled (and now cooled, mind you) water into the wound, flushing it of any remaining dirt. 

After what felt like ages of actual torture, he set the pot aside, and you slumped in the armchair. You hoped your glare burned him, but he just smiled with quiet amusement, like he knew he'd pulled you from your self-depreciating spiral. He picked up the white cloth, dipped it in the sterile water, and looked you square in the eye as he drawled: "Can--can you stop blamin' yourself so loudly? It's distractin'."

You huffed and thrust your hand out for the rag; if he was going to be an ass you'd just clean it yourself. He looked up at you, his eyes narrowing as he rested his hand on your knee. "I'm not givin' this to you--" he moved it out of your reach when you leaned forward to grab it, looking down at you smugly when the effort earned you a sharp ache and your resulting grimace. "I'm not givin' this to you, for one because you don't know what you're doin'--and secondly, because I don't think you care enough to be nice to your leg."

You gave up and sat back in the chair with a scowl. He raised his brows, entirely unaffected, but after a moment his expression became more serious. "...What happened yesterday wasn't your fault. Stop--stop blamin' yourself for somethin' you didn't do wrong."

A flippant wave at your thigh spoke enough. He scoffed, drawing his hands back to cross his arms as he leveled you with a skeptical look. "They--they had full netherite and you didn't even have armor. That--that's not a fight you win, even if you're good--which you ARE, by the way. Do you think you're invincible or somethin'?"

He didn't wait for your answer before pressing on, his voice crescendoing with... not anger, but something defensive, frustrated. "And--and even if somehow you didn't lose that fight--even if by some miracle they didn't land that hit, they would've just... just found something else I cared about and used that as leverage instead! It wasn't your fault!"

...oh.

Both your eyes and his widened as the weight of his words hit you. Oh is right.

The silence stretched on for another deafening moment, then another. He dropped his gaze back down to his lap, his shoulders taught with tension and his expression carefully guarded. You floundered for a reaction, a response, anything--but came up woefully short. It took you by surprise, alright?? You already knew he cared, at least in theory, but hearing it felt different. It WAS different. Not... bad different, just...

He hid his face by cleaning the gash on your leg, still as careful as before even with tension dripping from every inch of his frame. Your chest was light with fondness and heavy with panic at the same time (an unfair combination) as you watched him draw into himself like a hermit crab retreating to its shell. You had to do something, anything, just don't leave him hanging--

You reached out, hesitated a moment, and then wrapped one of your hands around his. He froze, the entire room did really, as he sat there just... looking down at your hand. You bit the inside of your cheek. Embarrassment set your neck and ears aflame after you just... patted his hand softly and drew back. Was that seriously the best you could come up with?

Techno took a deep breath and let his shoulders relax , so subtly you almost thought you imagined it. He wrung the cloth out--both to clean it and to hide his face again; this time because his cheeks were the same rosy tint as the water dripping from the rag. 

He caught your smug smile when he turned back to you, and narrowed his eyes defensively. "We--we never speak of that again. I said nothin'. Didn't happen." He grumbled. You nodded sagely, sarcastically, and then it was your turn to raise your brows at his baleful glare. The tension that had weighed on the room ran down the bathtub drain with the dirty water. You gave him a teasing smile and he mirrored it faintly before he turned his attention to your leg. 

Techno set the rag down when he was satisfied he'd cleaned the gash enough... and the embarrassed flush faded from his cheeks. The sweet, earthy scent of honey filled your nose as he uncorked the bottle and looked back up to you. "I, uh--this is honey." 

You deadpanned and thus had the pleasure of his laugh falling on your ears, sending a wave of contentment from your stomach to your head like bubbles racing toward the water's surface. His eyes crinkled at the edges and he rested his free hand on your leg absentmindedly, his laugh fading to a tired grin. Both of you were a bit hysterical with exhaustion, to be fair.

"I--I meant that it's honey, and I'm gonna put it on this gash for the next few days. It's got several uses in medicine, but--" you watched, transfixed, as liquid gold fell sluggishly to pool across your skin. "--basically, it'll help with infection, inflammation, and a few other things. It's very useful stuff, very useful." The honey was... surprisingly cool to the touch--a soothing contrast to the heat of irritated flesh and Techno's warm fingertips as he slathered it over the gash evenly. "In a day or so I'll know if it's safe to close this up with sutures, but until then: honey." It didn't take him long to cover the wound to his satisfaction, wipe his fingers off on a bandage, and wrap that around your leg securely. "Alright. Lemme see your arm next." 

You shuffled stiffly (careful not bung your leg) and sat next to him on the tub, turned away so he could inspect your right arm--more specifically the back and underside, where you'd smashed the window of his cage in L'Manburg. The glass shards had clawed at you when you reached in to grab him, and your arm had been slowly trickling blood when you put too much strain on it, then scabbing over. The scabs crackled painfully when you reached up to undo a few buttons at the top of your shirt--you had to pause halfway through to take a few calming breaths and steady your shaky fingers. 

Techno must've seen you struggling, because he carefully, painstakingly, helped you extract your arm from the tattered sleeve. He put a hand on your forearm and lifted it gently to inspect the damage--causing you to hide a wince and a grip the edge of the tub so hard your knuckles ached. "Sorry, sorry." He mumbled.

You shrugged the incident off--and grimaced at the flare of pain that licked up your arm. Techno snorted softly behind you. You couldn't just let that disrespect go, you had a reputation to uphold, so you shot a half-hearted glare over your shoulder at him. He humored you with a little huff and a half-smile, but his attention went to your tricep soon enough and he started picking out the debris. You didn't have his face to focus on anymore, so instead you traced the ridges in the stone floor and tried to zone out.

The two of you settled into casual silence while he focused, the quiet broken every once in while by your jagged exhales and his murmured apologies. He finished clearing the large bits out, flushed any dirt deeper in the cuts with water, wiped away the grime, and poured water on it again before finally releasing your arm. You took it like a champ, if I do say so myself.

"Alright. Since I know these aren't as dirty I'm gonna go ahead and stitch them. It'll hurt, there's just--there's just no gettin' around that, but if you need a break we can stop for a bit, alright? Try not to move too much, if you don't mind."

You rolled your eyes, but nodded. You weren't a baby, for fuck's sake--you could handle a few sutures.

Techno shifted behind you on the rim of the tub, and not for the first time, you considered how lucky you were that he'd had taken you in. You looked back at him again, ready to thank him for helping you even though he was probably dead tired, but your eyes zeroed in on the gleaming, hooked needle was dipping in the sterile water. Very quickly you turned back around and tried to think of something to focus on instead of the needle. Maybe you'd think of something to get him as repayment, like you'd tried the day you met Ghostbur. But what should you--

Techno's hands settled on your arm again before he cleared his throat. "So I was thinkin', right? I was thinkin'..." He paused before the needle bit into your skin. You jolted--it wasn't agonizing, especially in comparison to the last few days, but it was the type of pain that traveled to the nerves in your teeth or your arm or your legs. You gripped the tub so tightly you almost worried it would crack. Deep breaths, you reminded yourself.

Techno waited patiently until you blew out a tired exhale, purposefully relaxed one muscle at a time, and nodded for him to continue. When he spoke his tone was casual, as if he was pointing out an interesting cloud. "...it's about time you got a name, don't you think?" 

Wait, wait--what?? 

Your breath stuttered in your lungs, partly because he tugged the thread through and that shit hurt, bUT MOSTLY because--because a name was... kind of a big deal. Your mouth opened and closed like a fish. You could practically feel the nervousness rolling off of Techno in waves, though to his credit his hands were steady as ever. 

You managed to breathe again, but your head still spun faintly. A name wasn't just a name--it... it was an identity, or at least the beginning of one. The first brick in constructing who you were until your memories came back, if they ever would. You smiled wryly at the irony of it; Techno admitting he cared about you had been so... casual (not less significant mind you, just less surprising) compared to him offering something as simple as a few syllables to call your own.

Techno tugged at the thread on the back of your arm a second before you felt the tension of the catgut snap. You glanced over your shoulder to see one of the cuts neatly closed and tied off at the end. His crimson eyes met yours, still waiting for your answer. You nodded finally. A smile broke over his lips. You could see the relief hidden poorly in his gaze--maybe he knew how significant a name was, too, or he was worried somehow you'd be against the idea.

You broke the stare first and turned back around, content to let him keep suturing. You figured he had more to say, anyway. His fingers returned to your arm and you grimaced as the stinging pressure returned, your hands clenching and unclenching on the hem of your shirt.

"Alright, I normally name my pets and mobs what the voices tell me, but I--I figured you might want something with a little more thought, a little more than just random chanting in some lunatic's head." Techno joked. 

You nodded, snorting. Yeah, you'd have to pass on the voices' suggestions.

He tugged the thread through again--it felt like a smaller version of a cut or like a very concentrated friction burn. Unpleasant, in a word. "See, I figured maybe--hear me out, alright--maybe I tell you some names from the books in my library, right? And--and I'll explain the story behind them, and if you like the name we try it. Not tonight; to be honest we--we're both too tired. But soon."

You nodded again, not even trying to suppress your excitement. You supposed you were both getting into enough life-threatening situations that him being able to get your attention was a good idea. Aside from the practicality of a name, it made you feel... it felt like a part of you that you hadn't really noticed was missing. So yeah, you were looking forward to it.

You were so distracted that you barely noticed the pain of Techno's work until he pulled the last stitch into a knot and snipped it. He poured more honey over the sutures, applied it evenly with his fingers again, and fastened another bandage around pretty much all of your upper arm. You swiveled to face him and mouthed a silent 'Thanks,' as you slipped your sleeve back on. 

"No problem. Let's finish patchin' you up and then get some sleep." He smiled dreamily as he stared at the wall before closing his eyes. "Mmmmmm, sleep..." 

The two of you sleep-deprived idiots chuckled; you were beyond ready to sink into the soft mattress and drift off that second and you'd never seen Techno so sleepy in your life, but it took another half hour for him to repeat his process on the cut across your stomach. Then he'd insisted on checking the bruises blooming darkly under your skin at your sides, your forearms, and... and your neck. 

That's how found yourself gazing into his soft red eyes, tracing along his face again while his gentle fingers tipped your chin up. It was such a dizzying contrast to the way Dream had grabbed and tugged and treated you like you a marionette. You very firmly shoved the unpleasant memories of the sewer away to a dark corner of your mind and leaned into Techno's hands a little more, savoring his warmth. You were safe, far away from L'Manburg with Techno. You were safe. You were.

Techno's gaze flicked up to yours when he pulled his hands away, and there was a very still moment before he retreated back to his seat where you just... got lost in his eyes. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but stopped short. You couldn't look away even if you wanted to. You felt exposed, almost uncomfortably so, but--in the strangest way, it wasn't... bad. It made your stomach flutter with equal parts nervousness and warmth. It was... vulnerable, soft. Intimate. 

And it shattered when the front door slammed open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O.O
> 
> told y'all the hurt had to come before the comfort, no? how did you lovelies enjoy your fluff-powered seratonin? This chapter just dragged on in my drafts for some reason and I'm too braindead rn to think of a proper author's note, but I just wanted to thank y'all for the hundredth time for supporting this!! I thought about cross-posting this on tumblr but then I remembered,, tehcno has a tumblr,, and I die thinking about him ever finding about this. Anyway see y'all soon and I'll get to replying to the comments for last chapter as soon as I can!! They're all so sweet and they give me Life. I promise I read them, I just haven't been able to reply yet <3
> 
> oh also I still take constructive criticism so don't feel like you have to give only positive feedback if there's something about it that bugs you!! i kinda walked the line between techno being too soft with this one imo lol


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TECHNO SIMPS COME GET Y'ALL JUICE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heeeeeeey everybody haha no this didnt take a week what do you mean--
> 
> I'm back!! And this took a long time for some reason but!! It's done now and I really like this chaper!! I do apologize for leaving y'all without this little extra kick of seratonin for so long, I drank 1600 mg of caffeine in two days and pumped this sucker out after taking a lil break, hopefully y'all find it worth the wait!! No warning's for this one except the usual flashback stuff that's in pretty much every chapter lol. hope you enjoy, my sweet readers <3

The front door slammed open with a bang, and then a few things happened all at once:

You flinched so violently you felt each individual stitch bite into your skin, any and all traces of softness in Techno's eyes vanished as he stood, and the two of you snapped your attention to the ladder hatch in unison. Someone was humming to themselves and flipping open the chests downstairs. 

...and you had a sneaking suspicion you knew who it was.

You tugged on your boot not-so-gently, which was VERY painful, OW--and followed Techno as he crept over to the ladder, him as graceful as ever and you wincing with every step. He held out a hand for you to wait back while he checked downstairs, which you promptly ignored. Techno shot you a look as you crouched next to him with a quietly pained grunt, but when you gave him a look right back he just rolled his eyes. 

He swung his legs over the hatch and dropped to the next floor nearly-silently, leaving you without a way to get down the ladder. You heard a startled shriek a moment later, and the loud thud of something hitting the floor--not a person, though to be honest you weren't sure how you knew the difference. You strained to get a better look and nearly fell down; you barely caught yourself with a little noise of pain, gritting your teeth as your stitches tugged harder. 

"Can I help you, Tommy?" You heard Techno drawl casually.

Tommy entered your limited vision as he backed into the door, laughing nervously and fumbling for the handle without taking his panicked, wide eyes off of Techno. "N-no, I'm quite alright, thank you." He swung open the door but--didn't leave? He just waved arm at the doorway. "You can leave now, buh-bye."

"EEH?" Techno's voice was...much less casual as he exclaimed. You barely held in your laughter--never had you heard him so indignant, so outraged. It was kinda funny. Well, really funny.

Tommy shrieked again as Techno lunged forward to grab him. He ducked under his arm and sprinted outside into the snow, slamming the door again in Techno's face. You could see his eye twitch in irritation, nearly laughed again when he turned to point a finger to you. "Stay here. I'm goin' to go beat up a small child. I'll be back soon." He didn't wait for your reaction before following Tommy outside.

You rolled your eyes before slowly, painstakingly descending the ladder. By the time your boots hit the floorboards, your leg was shaking so badly it nearly gave out underneath you. You barely managed to catch yourself on the ladder with a small noise of pain--any adrenaline left over from the previous day had abandoned you when you let yourself relax under Techno's care. In and out, you caught your breath. 

As you hobbled to the door your stitches gnawed at your skin, and when you stepped outside to look for the two boys the frozen wind did the same. You cast your attention to the left when you heard shouting--Tommy frantically dug at the snow a couple dozen meters in that direction, while Techno strode toward him with his pickaxe in hand, cutting down monsters like he wasn't sleep deprived and hadn't been killed the day before.

And like the genius you were, you trudged down the steps of the porch--in tattered clothes, wounded, missing an entire pants leg and frankly as tired as your friend--to hear what they were saying.

The wind snatched at their words, dragging them far away from your ears. You nearly fell when the snow got deeper suddenly and you were suddenly knee-deep. You cursed; leaving the house in the first place was a bad idea, but you were too stubborn to turn back. Not because you were fond of Tommy or worried he'd be thrown out or anything--if that asshole was evicted it was his own fault for being rude, and Techno was always going to have the final say. It was his house, for fuck's sake.

...but you'd be damned if you let j them catch frostbite arguing in the middle of a brewing snowstorm.

You looked back up at the two fools ahead, your eyes narrowed in annoyance, in pain, and against the flurry of snowflakes kissing your cheeks--which were, at that point, numb. Pretty much all of you that wasn't covered in the warm clothes you'd chosen days and days ago was numb, including your entire left leg. Bonus though! You couldn't feel your stitches anymore other than a dull, prickling pressure!

Techno stood above Tommy with his arms crossed, his hair slipping free of the messy bun to whip around his face, while the blonde took a generous bite out of a golden apple and, with his cheeks stuffed, mumbled: "'Ow do?"

"What're you doing in my house, Tommy?" Techno asked casually, moving one hand to his hip while the other propped his pickaxe on his shoulder. 

Tommy chuckled nervously and glanced at you, hobbling behind Techno with a frown. "Weeeell..." he took a step toward the house, his attention flicking back to the one with a weapon. "...how're you?"

Techno's tone lost its friendliness. "...What're you doing in my house Tommy?"

You panted heavily, hauling your legs along each step after the other. Tommy on the other hand backpedaled toward the house with relative ease--stupid long-leg boy, didn't even know how easy he had it-- 

"HOW'RE YOU?" He shouted.

Techno stalked after him, and while you could admit it was intimidating, all things considered he didn't seem angry--more annoyed. Did they know each other..? "WHAT'RE YOU DOIN' IN MY HOUSE, TOMMY?" 

Tommy hid behind you with a hand on each of your shoulders. "You are a BITCH, that's the way to lightly put it!!" He shouted back. You winced, both from the pain of his fingers digging into your-not-so-numb arm sutures, and from the sheer volume of his voice. Tommy tugged you back toward the house but he must've misjudged his grip because his fingers dug straight into your stitches, drawing a cry of pain and surprise from you as you both stumbled backward. "Shit--sorry--" Tommy instantly took his hands away while you sucked in a sharp breath, putting a numb hand over the wound. FUCK, that hurt--

Techno stopped a few meters away, his shoulders stiff and his eyes flinty. You saw his grip around his pickaxe tighten, saw the way he gritted his teeth--oh. You... you knew that not-here look in his eyes, he was thinking of Quackity and--the similarities between now and then were, unfortunately for Tommy, rather numerous. Which is why you let Tommy stay behind you, because you knew Techno (at least a little, you imagined) and you knew he was on edge and tired and so were you--

Techno stared right at your friend(?) or maybe stowaway, his tone curt as he spoke: "Tommy--Tommy you're using my friend as a human shield and I'm gonna give you five seconds to change that. Five."

Tommy scoffed--whether he recognized that you were trying to give him a fighting chance here or not, you couldn't say. "Or what, eh? Big man, big pick, little di--" 

"Four." Was he suicidal?? This was his chance to either run or explain and he was doing neither. Techno stepped closer, his eyes glinting. Tommy laughed nervously behind you. 

You narrowed your eyes at your pink-haired companion and hoped he'd understand that it wasn't out of anger or annoyance--you just wanted some food and sleep and beating up a kid for accidentally pushing you a little too hard might be an overreaction, Techno. You really don't need to scare him this much, Techno. Just put away the pickaxe and help me make dinner, Techno--

"W-well--do we really need to resort to violence, Big T? Be the bigger man n' all--"

You and Techno snorted in unison. His his gaze met yours and he seemed to get the message, his glare softening a bit. "You--you don't seem to care much about the aggressive squirrel usin' you for a human shield." He noted casually, as if he didn't look ready to murder Tommy a handful of seconds ago.

"That's because she's the one who said I could stay, dickhead! If you'd LISTEN to me--"

...thanks, Tommy.

Techno's brows creased in confusion and his attention zeroed in on you. "You knew there was a gremlin eatin' all my gapples and absolutely ruinin' my chests and you didn't think to say anythin' about it?"

You smiled sheepishly. Guess the cat was out of that particular bag... it had slipped your mind somewhere between nearly dying and being abducted, Techno nearly dying, and then you being kinda-abducted and nearly dying, in that order. So, yeah, you might've forgotten. 

"Well to be fair Technoblade, you were gone. She was busy moping and glaring at me and--see, there she goes again--HEY!" You stepped to the side and waved an arm at Tommy; you were done defending the little shit since he was so willing to rat you out--TWICE. Besides, if Techno wasn't attacking him yet, he probably wouldn't hurt him. Probably.

Techno took that at his opportunity to march toward Tommy, whose eyes widened a split second before he threw himself to the side and dodged a pickaxe to the face, shrieking: "oh SHIt fUCk--STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT--"

Tommy scrambled into the cabin and slammed the door for the third time, Techno shouting at his heels. Their bickering could be heard through the windows and doors, even from where you stood a bit away. If the cold hadn't begun to sting your skin instead of numb it, you might've stalled outside until they quit being so loud, but as it was you just sighed softly and hobbled back toward the porch.

As you put a shaky hand against the porch railing, you heard their yelling grow particularly shrill, then fade as if they were disappearing either up or down a floor. You briefly considered trying to interfere again before Techno gave the kid a heart attack. Although... if Techno was actually going to hurt Tommy he wouldn't have missed any of his swings earlier. And you were freezing your ass off, stretching your physical limits (and your stitches, which fucking hurt) because of Tommy. No, you would leave them to their... weird sibling-frenemy squabble. 

You knocked your boots against the bottom step of the porch to shake off the snow and mud before ducking inside, and by then it was almost sunset again--only a day since you'd come back to the cabin to find Techno fighting the four men, but it felt like a year. Your boots dragged on the floor and you shook from the chill, so you figured a fire was a good idea--not only to thaw yourself out but also to make something to eat... your stomach rumbled longingly at the thought. 

You'd have to see what Tommy hadn't torn through--the kid had an insane appetite, and you honestly didn't know where he put the food he ate. And, since you weren't exactly sure how to cook (beyond the few times you'd seen Techno do it and your hit-or-miss attempts while he'd been away) you hoped there'd be something simple, otherwise you'd have to wait for Techno's help. After he'd done so much for you, the thought of making him cook just... didn't sit right with you.

Right, fire first. You stiffly arranged a pile of wood in the fireplace and sparked at the tinder, blowing softly across it to spread the infant flame. Soon enough, it grew enough that it wouldn't sputter out if left unattended. Your body collectively groaned as you stood--not to mention the herculean task of shuffling back across the room and lifting away the lid of the nearest barrel. You distracted yourself by taking comfort in the scent of woodsmoke, the soft light that the fire diffused in the room, and the gentle crackling of steam escaping through the burning bark. 

The contents of the first barrel were... stark. Tommy had taken nearly all the golden apples, and since Techno had given you an entire stack of golden carrots (which had been lost along with your diamond sword, unfortunately), there wasn't much in the way of battle-food. Fight-snacks. Rumble-nom-noms. Gods above, you needed sleep. 

Tommy and Techno's heated discussion faded completely, probably because they were in the cellar full of chests, or maybe the room under that one you hadn't explored yet. You let yourself relax in the silence, though it was a double-edged sword; without something else to draw your subconscious attention, your thoughts became reflective. You sighed and, in doing so, inhaled the smell of the wood deeply again, and--for a moment could recall the hazy, blurry memory of throwing torches into dead brush heaped at the feet of towering pine trees, the scent of smoke and the roiling inferno spreading beyond control--

The downstairs doors slammed, then opened and slammed again. You flinched so strongly you ignited every ache and twinge of pain you'd forgotten, and growled under your breath at the two of them. Irritation sparked under your skin--could they not stop doing that!? You had to consciously relax your fists, peeling your fingernails from your palms one at a time and tracing the crescent-moons left behind--the second set now, as the scabs from earlier were still there.

It helped some, but you couldn't shake off the sudden spike of nerves--courtesy of the loud assholes currently arguing downstairs AGAIN--and your movements were jerked, curt, and painful as you shut the lid on that barrel and checked the next one. Something prickly and hot threatened your lashline, but you refused to--to cry. You weren't a child. You were just overwhelmed, and exhausted, and hungry and in pain, and your comfort person was busy arguing with a teenager and you just--

You gripped the edges of the barrel and blew out a tense breath. Then another. You were stronger than the panic that gripped your lungs, you reminded yourself. Stronger than the voices that murmured tauntingly in the periphery of your mind. Your bruised neck protested when you let your head drop to rest on your forearms and slumped, consciously sloughing the tension from your shoulders. Try to think of the positives, or good memories--literally anything but the sewers and the mask and the fear. In retrospect your confrontation with Dream felt like a horrible deja vu, why was it so familiar--

The fire popped loudly; just enough of a distraction to pull you out of the spiral you'd been teetering over. C'mon, focus on something else. Techno! Techno was always a good distraction, with his pretty eyes, and scars telling unspoken stories, and the little smile he'd given you earlier before Tommy had showed up. Mmmm, nope. Not gonna go down that rabbit hole--you forced your thoughts away from your... appreciation for him, and toward the future.

As unfortunate as the circumstances were, your injuries meant you would be able to rest for at least a few days. You might even be able to convince Techno to put his plans of retribution aside and just... stop for a moment. That would be nice, just you and your friend Techno and the annoying raccoon he'd begrudgingly bring back in the house because any minute now because, despite his best efforts to appear otherwise, he didn't have the heart to abandon Tommy to the literal and metaphorical wolves. You huffed in amusement--Phil's knowing look when you'd first met was suddenly much easier to understand.

The memory left a fond smile on your lips and eased the line from between your brows. You actually payed attention to the contents of the barrel for the first time since opening it, and found--to your pleasant surprise--potatoes. These you knew how to cook; they just had to be left in one of the ovens until they were soft enough to pierce cleanly with a butterknife, and you could at handle that. 

After a little more foraging you found the tea Phil had brewed when you'd first met, a slab of hard butter, and a bottle of honey. It wasn't exactly fine dining, but it would be a warm meal and, just as importantly, you could cook it yourself. It was a way to finally carry your weight, even if it was a tiny gesture compared to what Techno had done for you.

Your mood significantly lifted by the prospect of dinner, you placed three of the larger potatoes in the easiest-to-reach furnace and carefully sat on a barrel close to the fireplace to wait, enjoying the radiant heat as it soothed your aching muscles and chased away the cold. 

You weren't sure how long had passed exactly--you'd dozed off sitting up, to be perfectly honest--but you were jolted into alertness as the front door opened again, this time much quieter. Techno's eyes sought you out as soon as he stepped through the threshold, followed by a frigid gust of wind and a shivering Tommy, the latter of which immediately flopped onto Techno's makeshift bed. "Right, what's for food then?"

You teased Techno with a raised brow and a knowing smile, both of which he ignored as he approached you with his arms crossed (and you politely ignored the answering twitch of his lips as well). Tommy glared at you two for not answering him, which both of you also pretended not to notice. 

"Tommy is stayin' here until we help him get his discs back. And if he's goin' to eat my gapples and steal my bed, he's helpin' me destroy the government."

"I am NOT helping you hurt Tubbo." Tommy reminded him sourly.

Techno shrugged, though he kept his focus on you when he spoke. "We'll, uh... we'll work out the finer details as we go. Are those potatoes I smell?"

"Ah yes--The Blade's favorite." Tommy drawled from his spot on the bed. He took out yet another gapple from his bag and cronched on it before flicking his lazy stare over to you two.

Oh? Consider your curiosity officially piqued--there was definitely a story there, judging by the shift of Techno's feet under your combined stares. Luckily enough for him a loud tone drifted down through the hatch, which you distantly recognized as the tablet sitting on your bed. "I'm--I'm goin' to check what that is," He muttered before disappearing up the ladder in a hurry. You and Tommy snickered , and then silence blanketed the room again

You slid off our perch with a soft grunt of pain and walked over to the furnace to check on the potatoes, grabbing a butter knife from the little clay pot on the counter on your way. As you turned your back to him, Tommy spoke. "You--you look like shit, y'know."

You pursed your lips but didn't dignify his blunt observation with anything but a shrug. He wasn't wrong--although he could've been nicer about it. Hopefully Techno would be back down soon and save you from the little shit across the room. Actually--if he kept that up, Tommy might need to be saved from you. Techno probably wouldn't even intervene.

That thought drew a little smile form you as you checked the food: the knife passed through easily, so you nudged the potatoes out of the furnace, hissing every once in a while when the heat nipped at your fingertips. 

You paused when Tommy spoke up again "Earlier Technoblade said--he said he 'got executed, Tommy'. I saw the bloody pool of blood--see what I did there, eh? ...Anyway I saw it in front earlier when I was... skillfully persuading our good friend to not kill me and also, to help me get my discs back. It wasn't... wasn't Tubbo's, was it?"

You shook your head, careful not to burn yourself on the steam as you split open each potato and dropped a healthy slab of butter in each. Tommy hmmed, sounding relieved, but his silence was short-lived. "I don't care much for the others to be honest. I suppose they're alright--that Ranboo gives me the heebie jeebies. The wibbly wobblies. He's just so--tall! Never trust a tall person, I always say..." You half listened as he regaled you with his story of another tall person (a human though, he said) who apparently blew up L'Manburg? To be honest your attention wasn't great when Tommy started rambling.

The smell pouring out of the starchy, golden, delicious pockets of heaven in front of you drew a loud rumble from your gut, of course right when Tommy went quiet. Your stomach practically ached with hunger--come to think of it, you hadn't eaten since... since yesterday morning. Techno, who was still doing something upstairs, probably hadn't eaten in longer. You resolved to get him to rest for at least a few days--even if that meant tying his ass down long enough to take a nap. Mans was a workaholic.

"I know you don't do the whole... talking thing, but the least you could do is shake your head, for the love of god. I'm bored--humor me! Why do you look so bloody rough??" You finally turned to face Tommy and caught the barest glimpse of something frantic, which faded when you gave him your full attention. Odd, but you put it aside for the moment.

...You could remember vividly the threat of a blade at your neck, the sting of your hair being yanked, the sound of glass shattering, your panic and fear reflected back in Techno's eyes as he shoved you back--the overwhelming terror as Dream stalked toward you with blood dripping from his axe. You pushed away the unpleasant flashes of memory and leveled Tommy with a blank stare, instead.

He waved you off before settling back on the mattress with one arm tucked under his head, staring up at the ceiling. "Never mind, I'll just ask Blade when he's done walking a fookin' marathon up there."

Techno climbed down the ladder and raised a brow at Tommy a moment later. His crown sat on his head once more and he'd redone in a neater bun than before. He had the tablet in one hand, though he tucked it into his inventory. "What exactly are you askin'? Because if it's--Tommy, if you ask one more time about how to get a girlfriend, the deal is off."

Tommy squawked out a laugh, nearly choking on his bite of apple. "Well... y'know, somehow you managed with... y'know--" He nudged his head over toward you. You and Techno both stiffened, Techno even opened his mouth to protest, but Tommy carried on. "--and, well you can't blame me for being CURIOUS, Blade. Think of me as your protégé! Your ka-ra-te kid! Y'know, wax on, wax off--but make it RoMaNcE!" 

You huffed in amusement, relaxing again as Tommy rattled off a half dozen examples. Techno seemed to let it go as well, or at least if it still bothered him he didn't show it. He merely raised a brow and crossed his arms, waiting for the kid to finish. He sounded exhausted when he finally spoke, or maybe he was just tired of the topic: "Tommy I'm not teachin' you about women. Go bother someone else--go bother ANYONE else, actually."

...At which point Tommy turned to you with a grin, entirely unfazed. "Well, you heard the man! Teach me your secrets: How-to-get-girl--"

You shoved a plate of potato at his chest and ignored his indignant: "--hEY!" to hand Techno his with a smile. His red eyes danced with amusement, and you rather enjoyed his little laugh as he took the food with a nod and a "Thanks." 

The room fell silent again as you sat on your barrel again and the three of you inhaled the food--that's not an exaggeration by the way, it was gone in minutes--before piling the dishes aside for later. Techno seemed marginally less worn after the meal, you noted with more than a smidge of relief. 

The storm had picked up by then and the fire was losing its battle against the cold, though it burned steadily in the corner. Tommy shivered in his tattered clothes; you weren't any better off. At least the food warmed you from inside. Maybe you'd cut your losses and make tea after all...

Techno strode over to you quietly as while fidgeting with the cuff of his sleeve. "You, uh--you alright? I should've helped you instead of goin' in after Tommy, sorry for that."

You waved the apology off with a shake of your head--to be fair, he'd advised you not to leave the house and you'd decided to anyway. He didn't throw that particular 'told-you-so' in your face, just shuffled to stand to your right and inspect the sutures on your arm. His hands were still warm against your skin and you almost, almost hummed with contentment. You thanked whatever power may be for that Tommy either didn't notice or chose not to comment on the quiet moment. 

When Techno was done with his once-over to make sure you hadn't been a dummy and pulled any stitches (only one of those statements was true), he stepped back and nodded, half to himself. "Nothin' too bad, but you need to stay off your feet and let yourself rest." He paused and stared you dead in the eye, putting extra emphasis into his next words. "Which you're goin' to do, because I don't feel like waitin' around here for you to get better any longer than I have to.'

"Suuuure, big man," Tommy didn't even turn to notice Techno's glare, too busy nonchalantly picking at his fingernails.

You nodded sagely, though you tried and failed to hide your grin--it was ridiculous, the way his stern look now so strongly contrasted everything he'd said and done before Tommy showed up. Yes, he didn't care at all and THAT'S why he'd saved your life several times now. THAT'S why he 'tended to your wounds uwu' and acted like a mother hen a moment ago. Because he didn't care... right.

Seeing that he was outnumbered and for once outmatched, Techno looked up at the ceiling with a long-suffering sigh--but kept his gaze carefully away from your smirk as you patted his chest. 'I believe you, don't worry,' the gesture said. He grimaced as he finally gazed down at you. "I deny all accusations. You have no proof--you have absolutely no proof."

You snickered but spared him any more teasing as he turned to Tommy (who was still grinning like a little shit, might I add). "Alright. Since you stole my bed, Tommy you're helpin' me set up the other two down here." 

Both of you looked at him in surprise. He gestured toward you as he continued. "She's not goin' up the ladder with her leg like that. This is the warmest room in the house because, well--fireplace. And I'm keepin' an eye on both of you AND the door if we're all here. Because if you hadn't noticed--if you hadn't noticed the two people Dream is actively huntin' down are in here."

See that? That was all of the relaxation in the room vanishing like smoke in a hurricane. You had allowed yourself, for just a little while, to be comfortable with food in your stomach and two of exactly three people you kinda-sorta cared about. But Techno was right--Dream was still out there, he wanted something from both you and Tommy, and he was obviously willing to use violence to get it. It was a sobering reminder, to say the least.

You remembered the mask and the voices and the cold fingers wrapped around your throat, and you shivered. 

Tommy threw off the covers with a quiet grumble, though he and Techno worked surprisingly well together to rearrange the room to accommodate the new beds; one closer to the door and one by the fireplace. They were more like cots, but they were off the ground and had pillows and blankets, and at the end of the day that was basically what a bed was, right? Yeah, that's what you told yourself.

You settled in yours with a soft sigh, ready to crash and wake up in... about a week. A breeze kissed your face moments before the familiar warmth and scent of Techno's cloak fell across you. You cracked an eye open, already knowing you'd see Techno. Part of you hoped you didn't look too moon-eyed... and the rest of you was too tired to care. Techno snorted and drew the cloak over your face but it was too late, you'd already seen his fond look. You cackled and Tommy gagged audibly from across the room. 

Some combination of the crackling fireplace, the scent and weight of Techno's cloak, and the warmth of the food in your stomach lulled you to sleep. Peaceful, blissful, sleep. Dreamless sleep, if you'll pardon the pun. 

...for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hah, managed to get a pun in at the end there. it's so cool to see y'all bein nice and supportive in the comments section, and holy shit am i surprised to see the views this is getting! i know it wouldnt be remotely possible without the sharing and kudos and bookmarks and just... reading, actually, so thank you to everybody!!! as always, i hope you've liked the story so far and i'm open to all constructive criticism or feedback, by now you probably know I thrive on it LMAO
> 
> might edit this author's note later because i feel like im leaving important stuff out but rn i need Food and i can feel all my cute lil atoms vibrating from caffeine so,, goonai, or good morning or afternoon or evening to those in different time zones!


	13. Rubble and Ash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One month pog!! It feels like it's been way less than that, but also more? Time is weird! Which is definitely my excuse for telling a few of y'all this chapter would be out last night, and then taking another half a day to finish it lol. To be fair, I did write out an outline and then follow absolutely none of it, and then rewrite the second section of it lol. I'm so much happier with how this is now though, so without further ado, chapter 13! i remembered to name it this time ^^  
> 
> 
> (also hello hope y'all have had a good week and that you enjoy as always, have some domestic times filler-ish chapter that shouldn't be as long as it is--but the scenes just drew themselves out LMAO)

Techno looked... good in red. Really good.

...allow me to explain.

When you'd woken up late-morning, it was to the sweet song of Techno and Tommy bickering outside in hushed whispers. Now 'hushed' and 'whisper' were generous, because if you cared enough to eavesdrop, you'd be able to make out just about every word they spoke. You honestly didn't think Tommy could be quiet if he tried, and somehow he managed to get a rise out of Techno every time he opened his mouth.

You gave up on rolling over and drifting back off, partly because the sun was already high up in the sky and partly because your stitches were ridiculously itchy--you didn't think you'd be able to go back to sleep if you tried. Instead, you threw your covers to the side with a huff and shimmied your legs over the side of the bed. You hissed softly when the motion of sitting up tugged the cut across your stomach, your toes curling against the icy floorboards. All of that relative discomfort notwithstanding, your stomach gurgled--you were fucking ravenous.

You mulled over your options while you snagged a corner of Techno's cloak and dragged it over your shoulders. The fire was nearly dead, which explained the numbing chill to the room. You shivered, clinging stubbornly to the last dregs of sleep even when goosebumps erupted across your skin... specifically up your left leg where you were missing pretty much that entire half of your pants. You'd need a change of clothes--maybe you could ask Techno? If he ever finished talking with Tommy, anyway.

A hot meal sounded divine, but you'd seen the food stores last night and they were lacking. You could have some tea to tide you over, you supposed, though you'd have to grab snow and firewood. From outside, which meant receiving the neutral face of displeasure from Techno. Was it really worth it..? 

,You shivered head to toe a second later--the sound of your teeth chattering together gave you all the motivation you needed to get moving. Sure, you could ask one of the others to do it--but it would be a good opportunity to move around while Techno was busy and therefore couldn't potentially smother you. Also, the idea of asking for something so trivial just... didn't sit well with you.

So you ignored your body's very understandable response (the word here is pain, folks) and instead hauled the cast iron pot up in your left hand. You then hobbled toward the door, cursing silently as you struggled to fasten the ornate clasp of the cloak with your right hand. Your fingers were stiff from the cold, making the task twice as frustrating as it had to be. Maybe you'd just give up and set it aside, you wouldn't be out long anyway--

The front door opened, nearly smacked you in the face actually. You stopped in your tracks... which sent a flare of pain up your stomach that nearly brought tears to your eyes--fuck, bad idea--who the fuck--you grimaced, both from the discomfort and the blinding white snow outside, squinting to find the face of which of the two had come in. Your frown melted when you realized it was Techno, gazing down at you with a mix of amusement and concern. Bemusement, you decided.

"Good mornin'." Techno's breath clouded in the air when he greeted you. His eyes trailed down to your left hand wrapped around the pot's handle, then back up to your right fumbling at the cloak. You uh, weren't prepared for him to bring his hands up and brush your fingers away, then tug the clasp--and yourself, how embarrassing--an inch or so closer absentmindedly so he could fix it, drawling: "Y'know I can't--I can't help but feel like you're ignorin' the whole point of stickin' around here until your wounds heal."

You looked anywhere but his pleasant-to-look-at face (which you could already tell had a teasing smile waiting for you) and merely hummed in reply. You were a little distracted, you see, because your attention happened to land on his clothes--and you finally noticed he'd changed his wardrobe from the usual soothing blues and greys to something a little different.

Techno looked... good in red. Really good.

From the rubies that flashed over his knuckles as he did the clasp, to the vermillion cloak he wore over a loose white shirt (that may or may not have shown off a scar on his collarbone, oof), to the crimson sash wrapped around his waist. Maybe the deepest red of all--or simply your favorite--were his eyes, glinting at you teasingly because--because the sly bastard reached down and snagged the pot from your rather slackened grip.

Your jaw dropped, first in shock and then absolute disbelief. The NERVE of this man, this stupid, smart jackass--you'd wipe that smug look off his face if you weren't still trying to free your breath from somewhere in your lungs. Because the cold, yep. Cold is definitely what you felt. Ice cold. Hah...

He straightened and you could SEE him struggle to keep his smile hidden. He thought he was hot shit, didn't he? Bastard. "I'm only stickin' around so you don't have to worry about Dream, but I'm also tryin' to burn a nation to it's foundations and I can't exactly do that--I-I can't exactly go wipe a government from the face of the earth for what they did if you keep bein' stubborn. Get off your feet. Stop pushin' your recovery date back 'cause you can't take help."

...Oh, he hadn't SEEN stubborn yet. You lifted your chin and crossed your arms--OW--which was a big mistake because arm hurty, why are you like this--

Your eye twitched but you suppressed your grimace; you refused to give him the satisfaction of being right, even if both of you knew he was--you could already see the smugness written all over his stupid pretty face. 

"Did somebody say 'date?' Did I just hear the Blade is going on a DATE??" Tommy shouted from the downstairs room.

You smothered your cackle with your left hand over your mouth, but it was a halfhearted effort and you both knew it. It was Techno's eye that twitched this time. "No, you did not. No you did not hear I'm goin' on a date, Tommy."He shot you a pleading look as if somehow you'd save him, which you ignored, of course--this war karma and he deserved it.

"Ah, don't let it get'ya down, mah friend. You'll find the one sooner or later. Plenty of fish an' all that, and well, y'know, the fishin' rod thing. Oooh--maybe a salmon, like Wilbur!"

"I'm not--" He pinched the bridge of his nose and gave the most world-weary sigh you'd ever heard. Granted, you couldn't remember hearing many of those, but still--this one took the cake. "Tommy, thank you but I'm not--" He broke off to scowl at you. "--stop laughin' at me, stop laughin' at my sufferin'--" 

You doubled over, gasping for breath with tears blurring your vision of his boots. It wasn't even that funny really, but dear gods the LOOK on Techno's FACE. You risked a glance back up at him, saw him still glowering at you tiredly, and fell apart all over again. You couldn't be bothered to stop, not even when your stomach started stinging from the stitches being stretched.

Techno gave up and walked out with the pot, grumbling under his breath and leaving you to recover from your fit of laughter. Which you did, almost--until Tommy piped up again from below with a genuine: "Was it soomethin' I said?" And then you had to start all over again. Your lips still twitched when Techno brushed past you a minute or two later with the pot full of snow and a few logs tucked under his other arm. 

He pretended not to notice your sore grin as he crouched in front of the fireplace and started setting logs over the flames. "There's a few minor projects I wanna get to while you're recoverin'." He muttered before he dusted off his hands and set the pot to hang over the fire. "Phil told me he's headin' here when he gets a chance to sneak out of L'manburg, but he won't stay. See, he's got melon seeds, alright, and those are the only thing stoppin' us from brewin' some healin' potions for you."

You nodded along with his ramble, though by the time he was done you'd already retrieved a loaf of semi-stale bread from the food barrel and popped a chunk in your mouth. Plain bread did not taste as good as you'd hoped, and glanced around for the jar of honey--it was on that chest last night, but Techno must've put it away or something. Eh, you had the feeling this wasn't the worst meal you'd ever eaten. Still, you grimaced when you swallowed the bite--it felt more like swallowing gravel, every little jagged edge and bump a painful reminder of the bruises on your neck.

Techno glanced up at you. You pretended like you'd been paying full attention by blinking at him. "I'm not sure when exactly he'll be stoppin' by, but when he does we'll plant the seeds in the apiary since it's the only ground that's not frozen." His knees popped as he stood and stretched with another grumble. It was kinda cute, not that you'd ever admit it. You watched curiously as he reached into his bag, unsure of what to expect, but when he pulled out a journal...

You remembered the worn book in your own bag, the one Dream had tossed at you. The notes scribbled down on the worn pages, names and lists and observations--the sudden thrill of fear when you barely dodged his axe, the sharp sound of metal-on-stone as it sank into the wall like butter. You shrank back into yourself at the memory of the mask spinning gently before your eyes, the bloody cracked edge of it twirling in and out of view. The voice (voices?) haunted you.

Techno was talking about something as he flipped through the pages, but you couldn't keep yourself anchored to his voice. Each time you tried to draw your mind away, you'd focus for maybe a second, and then you'd be dragged under again as if caught in a riptide. Memories of the fight and Dream's words kept you on edge, tilting dangerously between the here and now and back there, back then.

Something had nagged at you ever since you made it back to the cabin--you'd barely survived Dream, and yet... you couldn't ignore the gut feeling that he could've killed you half a dozen times before Techno showed up. He hadn't, though. He'd hurt you, sure. And did he scare you out of your mind? Gods, yes. With a sinking feeling in your stomach you came to the conclusion that, if he had actually tried, you'd be dead. That he needed you alive to find some... some book you knew absolutely nothing of, and that he had no problem torturing you in the meanwhile.

Your fingernails bit into your palms again, but you barely noticed the sting. Why did you have to be hunted by, of all people, a psychopath like him? One with power and influence, if he was willing to challenge Techno. The thought of Dream catching you off guard again, with nobody there to step in--it froze your blood. You tried to breathe but you just... couldn't suck in a breath deep enough. Quietly, panic swelled in your throat, closing it up so tightly it ached.

"Hey--are you... are you alright? Because to be honest, if I'm bein' totally honest here--you don't look so good."

You dragged your attention away from the metaphorical hole you were drilling in the opposite wall, over to the worried crease between Techno's brows. He took a step closer, but rather than invasive it felt... helpful? Like the closer he got, the more of the panic burned away, the more you could suck in some much-needed oxygen. You blinked the 'middle-distance' from your gaze and smiled in the hopes he'd find it reassuring. You were... fine, all things considered. You were fine.

His frown didn't fade. "Y'know--ah, even if I'm not the person you'd want to talk to, which is completely understandable--and I wouldn't be upset at all, I'm well aware of my stunted emotional capacity, alright--" he chuckled nervously, flicking his sight toward one of the windows as he searched for his next words. "--sometimes it helps to talk to somebody. Anybody. Hubert or Fool downstairs--although I guess you can't uh, exactly get down there--or Phil when he visits, or if you're feelin' particularly brave, even--even Tommy."

Your chest thrummed with... with... you didn't have the word for it. Not as desperate as you'd felt watching him throw his sword down to save you, but just as strong and... painful? Not... painful, but panging, tugging, pulling you into a very dangerous, floaty feeling blooming behind your ribs. You desperately wanted to hug him, show him that you appreciated his concern, but you hesitated.

Gods, it was confusing, because to be honest the entire concept of affection? It was new and foreign and--a moment later you took a cautious step towards him, anxiety wrestling with affection in your stomach. It had to be one of the scariest things you'd ever done, infinitely more terrifying than when you'd fallen into the ravine because this time Techno might just let you fall.

Time dragged on until suddenly it didn't--Techno stepped forward to meet you in the middle, and you kinda just... fell together again. You snaked your hands behind his back at the same moment the weight of his arms settled around you, and for the first time in what felt like forever you felt truly secure. His hold on you tightened, one hand smoothing gently down your spine, comforting and warm. You melted into him and let go of the worry that had weighed on you with a sigh. A weary, stuttering sigh.

You felt his chest rise and fall too, his own breaths ruffled your hair before he settled his chin on the crown of your head. He relaxed too; maybe he'd needed the comfort just as much as you. A moment later he murmured, "This is nice. Hugs are nice. Mmmmmm, h u g." 

Your fingers bunched up in the back of his shirt as you turned your forehead into his chest and snorted. His answering laugh was inaudible; you just felt the rumble travel straight from his chest into yours. You'd do a lot for that laugh, you realized quietly. Look at you, an absolute mess and you'd known him for... how long had it been now? Three weeks? Three and a half?

Although, you HAD been through quite a bit together, between your recklessness and his being hunted down by an entire nation that he apparently had a hand in blowing up. Nearly dying several times does tend to bring people closer, you supposed. And look at him now, who would rather die than admit he thought fondly of anybody, standing there taking comfort in the solidness of the person in his arms. That was just your guess, anyway. 

He poked you playfully as if he could hear your thoughts running amok. You turned a baleful look up at him, and he gazed down at you before chuckling and looking up towards the windows. Something about the way his hold on you tightened minutely sent goosebumps along your neck and shoulders. It drew an involuntary shiver from you, but Techno must've mistaken it as a sign that you were cold because he shifted his arms to hold you closer, and damn if that didn't make you feel an entirely new level of warmth. You turned your face further into his chest and prayed he couldn't feel the heat of your cheeks. This was comforting and pleasant and--and totally platonic. Yep. Yepyepyep--

"Te'noblade, your chests are a MESS!" Tommy shouted from downstairs.

Techno stiffened. You sniggered softly against his shirt--and laughed harder when he grumbled under his breath. Unfortunately, whatever bubble had fallen over you two had been popped, and all good things must end. Techno lifted his chin away from the crown of your head and leaned away from your ears to yell: "That's--Tommy that's literally your fault!" 

"It's alright man! I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed k'know? Because I was looking for some potions, right--and I've been lookin' for ages now, Te'noblade--and they're either not here or invisible--which is, heh, a bit ironic because it's invis potions I'm lookin' for, actually. D'you know where you keep them??"

You mourned when Techno drew away, his fingers trailing off like he regretted having to leave too, though he did pull a bed closer to the fireplace as a compromise. He guided you towards it, careful not to touch the stitches on your arm, and you huffed at his shepherding... but humored him. This time. You still batted away his offered hand and settled on the mattress yourself though; his rolled eyes warmed you from the inside out.

"Hello?? Are you there??" 

Techno took the pot of bubbling water off the fire and set it aside before he briefly set his hand on your shoulder to get your attention. You looked at him lazily--something about the heat of the fire hit had you with a wave of fatigue. "Alright. I'll be back with Tommy and--and we'll talk about the future, an' what's goin' to happen movin' forward. Stay put." You raised a brow at him, to which he rolled his eyes and amended: "Stay put, please."

"TE'NOBLADE! Quit ignoring me!!" Tommy whined. 

You could see Techno die inside and consoled him by patting his hand on your shoulder. He was smiling wryly when he drew away, then turned toward the hatch with his cape trailing behind him like a scarlet wave. How majestic. You watched his crown dip out of sight and wondered idly if he was born royal, or if he'd relieved its previous owner of the burden.

...something told you it was probably the latter. 

You entertained yourself by gazing out at the quiet landscape, keeping an ear on their conversation, and smoothing your thumb over the fingernail marks etched in your palms. "Tommy, maybe--maybe before you burrowed under my house, and stole my things, and ruined my organization, I knew where I kept the invis potions. I USED to keep 'em in the chest on the far left column--"

"I don't do columns n' rows n' shit, Technoblade!"

You snorted softly, but tuned out their bickering--it wasn't anything you felt the need to listen to. From where you sat you could just barely make out the red stain, nearly swallowed by the fresh snow from the night before and the much gentler flurry outside now. You picked at the bandages on your thigh and, in your boredom, tried to think of the second thing that had been bothering you: your debt to Techno. Since, you know, he'd done quite a bit for you by then, and you still hadn't come up with a way to repay him. In three weeks.

Helping him with whatever he needed around to retaliate againsr L'Manburg was a good start, but the idea of a grand gesture appealed to you. Only problem was, Techno didn't seem especially sentimental and he lacked nothing aside from his stolen gear--which was your fault anyway, you reminded yourself, and helping him get that back was the barest minimum possible. Asking Phil when he stopped by wasn't a bad idea, you supposed. He'd know more about Techno, and he struck you as the type to enjoy giving surprises to the people he cared about.

You heard Tommy and Techno of them clambering back up the ladder (and still arguing) a few moments before you saw the movement out of the corner of your eye. Techno didn't pause, just continued up the ladder while Tommy hopped off and looked over at you. He jerked his in greeting. "Men, amirite?"

You nodded sagely. You had no idea what they were talking about but you weren't about to let him know that.

Tommy paused before he burst out laughing. "BHAHA--see Techno!? At least SHE agrees with me--a woman of reason, she is!"

Techno dropped back down a moment later with a large-ish bundle of stuff clutched in one hand, his features scrunched in skepticism. He turned to walk to you as he said: "Tommy I hate to be the one to break it to you--I hate to break it to you, Tommy, but you're a man too."

The kid put a hand on his chest, mock-affronted. "How dare you. How fookin' dare you--I am a CHILD, Te'noblade! You on the other hand, you're a MaN, and as our friend here agreed, all men do is lie an' cheat."

Techno's hair fell in his face when shook his head and sighed again. "Alright Tommy, if you insist--if you insist, I'll call you a child," He set down the bundle and looked straight toward Tommy, his voice dripping with sardonicism yet somehow still deadpan. "...A loud, angry child."

Tommy gasped indignantly, his eyes widening--then narrowing as he floundered for a retort without proving Techno's point. It dawned on you just then, between the way his eyes were brighter blue than ever and he was fighting a smile, that he enjoyed bickering with Techno. 

The realization made you snort, but very quickly your expression twisted into a scowl when you scratched a little too hard at the gauze on your leg--OW, ow ow ow. You tensed instinctively but that just made your entire right arm light up painfully. Goddammit--

Techno swatted your hand away lightly, looking exasperated. You shot him a look somewhere between glaring about pouting. "You are the worst patient I've ever had to deal with. Stop scratchin'."

Your pout disappeared when you raised your brows in disbelief and pointed a finger at your sternum, glancing around the room like you were looking for who he might be talking to. Tommy was elbow-deep in his backpack with his tongue pinched between his teeth; he must've given up looking for a comeback when he realized Techno was focused on you. No luck.

Your nurse chuffed after he pulled out the little glass bottle and a washcloth from his bag. "Alright, now that we're all here, we can start plannin' our next move." He unwound the bandages on your upper arm and tossed them at his feet, then added the stuff in the bottle to the water, wetted the cloth, and began cleaning the skin around your sutures. "Who has the discs right now, Tommy?"

...discs? What discs?

Tommy's eyes drifted up to the right while he paused to remember. "Well, Skeppy and Badboyhalo have one--and I think they're planning on givin' it to Dream soon. And then Tubbo has the other! So we don't need to worry about the Tubbo disc, we just--"

"Well we could just mug him, y'know?" Techno suggested as he dipped the washcloth back in the water to rinse. You tilted your head and glanced between them; you were definitely missing something. You tapped Techno lightly and made a writing motion in your palm; it drew his gaze down to the red marks in your hand and you saw his eyes narrow, but he didn't comment. Oops. 

You glanced over in time to see Tommy's brow furrow defensively. "We're not gonna mug--are you insane?? It's Tubbo!" 

Both of you kept your eyes trained on Techno who grabbed his journal from the fireplace, then went over to his pack lying next to his bedding. He turned back to Tommy, but his hands were busy searching in his back for his quill and inkwell. "Well I mean, he has--he has a bunch of my stuff-- He tore out a page from the journal and laid it across the back cover, then handed all three items to you before he picked the washrag back up. "--and we're gonna need that stuff back to get the discs."

"What stu--we're not going back to L'Manburg!" Tommy's voice raised an octave. "I'm exiled, in case you'd forgotten!" His expression shifted between disbelief and worry and something else you couldn't place, all in a matter of seconds. 

You scribbled on the page and held it up for Techno, watching Tommy as you waited. "We're not--Tommy we're not gonna hurt him, we're just gonna threaten him so that he gives us what we want." Techno leaned over your shoulder to see what you'd written down: 'what discs?'

"Tommy and Dream have been fightin' over a pair of discs since before I showed up. To be honest-- to be honest I'm not sure why either of them care so much, but apparently it's started like, three wars or somethin.'" Techno explained to you while he poured more honey over the wound.

Tommy crossed his arms and glowered. "We're not going to threaten Tubbo, man."

"Well I mean we--"

Your eyes widened when Tommy cut him off sounding the most serious you'd ever heard him. "Let's just focus on the disc Skeppy and BadBoyHalo have got, alright? An' leave Tubbo alone for now." 

Techno's hands, which had paused for a split second when Tommy interupted him, resumed wrapping your upper arm in fresh bandages. "...Alright. D'you know when they're goin' to give it to Dream? Or what he's tradin' them for it?"

"Ah, no and--no." Tommy admitted bluntly.

"...Fantastic." Techno sighed. A moment later he motioned to your legs, letting you know he needed them propped them up on the bed. "I've started a to-do list with stuff we can do until we're in travellin' shape again." He wrapped a hand around your ankle and lifted your left leg to the mattress, and even though he was careful, you couldn't hold back a wince. You leaned your weight back on your hands and breathed slowly through your teeth. 

"Funny you say that, Blade, because I too have made a to-do list." He pulled out a scrap of paper from his pocket and cleared his throat. "Ahem. Firstly, build assertive cobblestone tower of power--came up with that myself--to assert dominance..." 

Techno kept an eye on you while he raised the bandages away from your skin and cut them away, but you waved him off with a distracted smile. It was kind of him to worry, really, but almost nothing could beat out the pain when you'd first woken up here. You could hazily remember the bolt grinding in your side with each breath you took, staring down a weird guy with pink hair and hands literally coated in your blood--this was nothing by comparison. 

Tommy made a disgusted noise from across the room when Techno wiped the old honey away from the room to inspect it. "Christ, what happened to you?"

Techno paused again, then looked over at him with narrowed eyes. "Tubbo, when he came here and violently forced me out of retirement. It's--it's a good thing I don't hold grudges Tommy, because if I did--if I did Tommy, I'd consider reducin' L'Manburg to rubble and ash."

An unspoken, heavy tension settled over the room when Tommy lowered his chin and stared back. "Good thing you're the forgiving type, then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope y'all enjoyed!! Next chapter shouldn't take as long, but I am warning you it'll be domestic for a while! I'm a lil nervous about taking a break from the main plot and I would sincerely love to hear how y'all feel about that, since seeing your name guesses and headcanons for the future has been way cooler than I expected?? But yeah, as always i'd love to hear anything you have to say! 
> 
> Thank you again (im sorry if this is repetetive but im not gonna stop) for reading, leaving kudos, commenting, subscribing, bookmarking and sharing! I don't like paying attention to the numbers but I saw 10,000 hits and jus.... o.O thank you! <3
> 
> edit: i'm in texas rn and freezing my ass off which is FANTASTIC experience for some stuff coming up soon in the story heh, but because i don't have power I can't consistently work on chapter 14, and there may be a delay. that being said, i'll still be reading comments/catching up/writing offline. anybody else without power i hope you stay safe and warm <3


	14. Golden Hour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM ALIVE! and im keeping this A/N short because yall are starved of this story, i know, and i come bearing a BANQUET of food. and apple juice, as a commenter requested. i hope yall have had a decent last month and that you enjoy this one, because OOF. I got to feeling some type of the way when i was writing it LOL

The leather creaked like saplings in a windstorm as you drew it across its wooden frame, then carefully tied it in place. After a brief once-over, you deemed it satisfactory and tossed the item frame one of many, many piles of loosely 'organized' clutter covering the floor of the storage room. Techno had been wading through the sea of gear and supplies and materials all day, from when you'd finished forming a rough plan til now. It had been about... six hours, if you had a to guess? Which made it almost sunset now, if the amber sneaking under the doorway was any hint.

You and Tommy lounged on your respective islands, yours being an extra chest with furs drawn over the top, placed in the corner farthest away from the door--Techno's idea. A crafting table was nestled between your double chest-turned-sofa and the wall to your left. Straight across from you and next to Techno's pet skeleton sat Tommy, on a lumpy bed of pilfered gear. 

His spot had grown over the last few hours until it began spilling into the rest of the once-neat piles that strewn around the floor. He'd snagged a set of netherite armor, several diamond tools and weapons, random potions, blocks of gold and emerald, and several of Techno's spare cloaks, all of which didn't fit him right around the shoulders. 

Tommy looked... a lot better than the half-charred, half-starved, desperate kid you'd found just a week ago. Probably thanks to the ridiculous amounts of golden apples he'd eaten--you and Techno and Carl had split ONE when you'd fled L'Manburg, and it had been enough to keep you going for another half day. Whatever happened to Tommy must've been worse on him than you first imagined. That, or he just had the appetite of five fully-grown adults and a small farm.

Tommy's eyes clashed with yours--you'd been caught staring, not that you'd meant to anyway. He scrunched his nose and glared daggers at you, challenging you to look away. 

You just smiled sweetly back at him. 

He rolled his eyes and turned at Techno, bored of you already. The punk had been in a piss-poor mood ever since he and Techno's unspoken stalemate earlier had snapped. Even making actual, tangible plans (his idea, if you'll recall) and a hot late-lunch meal hadn't been enough to soothe his... whatever was bothering him. 

His sourness ran through in his whine when he spoke. "Te'noblade I don't understand how this helps us get my discs back. We're wasting precious time, man!"

Techno set aside a bundle of glowing yellow rods--blaze rods, useful for alchemy, you remembered. "Tommy, I already—I already explained it. I asked you specifically to pay attention when I was explainin' it, Tommy."

Tommy chuckled nervously, "BHA—well—honestly Te'noblade every time you open your mouth I just stop listening. I mean can you--can you honestly blame me? All you say is 'blood, blood, blood for blood god, betray friends, kill, kill, evil--"

Techno 'accidentally' hit Tommy square in the chest with a handful of spiderwebs. Harmless, but it finally shut him up--he was too busy scrambling to get it off and spluttering to complain, thank the gods. 

"I'm not--if you quit bein' so ANNOYIN', maybe you'd know why we're doin' this today Tommy." Techno drawled. He set down a stack of golden apples next to you--confiscated from Tommy with more trouble than pulling teeth--and looked you dead in the eye, his expression deadpan. "Guard these with your life."

You nodded solemnly, saluted him with your uninjured arm--and then let out a quiet noise of pain when your stomach pulled as a consequence. You'd gotten more familiar with what range of motion didn't cause you very intense, very annoying discomfort, but it still wasn't... you still forgot sometimes, alright? Sheesh. 

Techno sent you a look somewhere between annoyance, veiled concern, and just a dash of bone-deep weariness. You... were starting to worry about him just as much.

Tommy's voice dripped with mockery as he whined, "Explain it for me one more time? Poor, poor Tommy? Precious child Tommy Innit?"

Techno stared at him for a few tired moments before he caved with a sigh. That was his signature 'sigh of resignation'--you'd become much more familiar with it in the last day. He seemed... worn. And he'd been coughing all day--just the dust, he'd said, but his voice was raspy, and you worried the banter with Tommy might just make it worse.

...So you subtly retrieved your quill, inkwell and a scrap sheet of paper to take notes. If Tommy asked for the plan again, you'd just throw this at him--maybe you'd do it anyway if he kept being such a shit. You carefully set the cloak aside out of danger from the ink, and smoothed the parchment on your uninjured thigh as Techno spoke up: "Tommy if you ask me again, if you ask me to repeat the to-do list again I'm just goin' to ignore you. I mean it."

"Yeh, whatever. I haven't got all night, Blade."

You fumbled as the moniker slapped you over the head with icy recognition; the brief lapse in attention ended with your finger knuckle-deep in the inkwell to save it from tipping onto your clean shirt. Your eye twitched in annoyance as you wiped the ink off on the paper with a huff; that was gonna stain your skin for literal days. Tommy chuffed, but at least he half-hid it when you shot him a glare.

You looked to your right, back to Techno, in time to see him look away from you and clear his throat before he dragged over the next chest to sort through. "Alright, since I know--I just KNOW I have your full attention, Tommy... until we get a healin' potion for her, we can't go far, like I said before," he looked pointedly over to the kid, who huffed and rolled his eyes.

You glanced back at Techno when he knelt down with a quiet grunt and the quiet pop of crackling joints--what a boomer. He tossed a stack of planks in the pile you'd decided was probably building resources. "But that's really a blessin' in disguise, see, because someone--and I'm not namin' names, but it starts with a T and rhymes with Tommy--brought absolute ruin on my storage system. You thought what Wilbur did to L'Manburg was bad? HAH. Nah nah nah, just leave Tommy unsupervised for twenty-four hours and you'll see reeal carnage."

Tommy's face scrunched up in annoyance and you barely managed to hide your laugh behind a cough. Nice save.

He crossed his arms, raising his voice as he spoke because--well, because quiet wasn't exactly Tommy's strongest suit. "Y'know Te'noblade, I can't help but feel some unwarranted aggression from you." He nudged his chin at Techno, sneering. "Back me up here will you? Is he not being the biggest prick you've ever seen?" 

Well you could absolutely poke fun at Techno, and normally you WOULD--someone had to tease him, after all--but he'd taken a lot of shit from Tommy, and that was on top of the stress he must be under about the Butcher Army coming back, and Dream, and probably a few other things.

...so you decided to tilt your head and blink like you didn't understand. Tommy'd made an extra day or two of work because he was lazy and didn't put things back where they belonged, so this was justice really, you reasoned.

And the flutter in your stomach, the warmth in your chest when Techno barked out a loud laugh and looked over to you? That was just an added bonus.

"Fookin' kissass," Tommy muttered as he flopped back on his pile of loot like a sulking, lanky, pale dragon. Well more of a goblin, actually. 

You ignored him; you were used to his insults after about... a day. And Techno--Techno was a damn professional at it; you were fairly certain that he and Tommy had some kind of history, because nobody, absolutely nobody could let so much abuse roll off their back without batting an eye unless they had experience doing it. Techno must have it in spades.

The man in question set a diamond sword in the small pile next to your humble throne, a pile which apparently consisted of gear for you to use until you could all go netherite mining. You awkwardly turned to pick it up and tilt it this way and that. You watched the lantern light flash across the sharpened diamond, a beautiful sight when combined with the purple glow of enchantments. The craftsmanship was excellent, but it wasn't quite the same as the diamond sword you'd lost to the Butcher Army. You'd grown attached to that one, admittedly, but this would do.

"As much as I despise listening to you speak, Blade, I haven't found a flaw in this plan of yours yet and it. Is. Infuriating."

Techno hit him with a stray block of redstone and continued like nothing happened--like Tommy wasn't currently squawking his indignation. Carefully, you set aside the blade and replaced it with your quill, and when you looked up Techno was waiting. You nodded to him, and only then did he start. "Well you two need clothes, because with what you're wearin' you'll freeze out here. We need weapons and armor to upgrade to netherite, alright, so we'll have to start a mine--and we're goin' to have to build a nether wart farm for brewin', and growin' carrots for golden carrots. The lapis'll be useful for enchantin', and--"

"Te'no, I think I've found a flaw in your plan."

"Alright, let's--let's hear what you have to say, Tommy. Since you have so much more experience than me, you know--"

"Will you shut UP man? I'm trying to tell you that we can jus' trade for all that shit and save weeks of work."

Techno stopped, his brows furrowed in thought. After a long moment, he nodded slowly and said, dead serious: "Tommy, I--I've underestimated you. You don't have just one brain cell, you might actually have two."

"Yeh, people do tend to underestimate my genius, my enormous brain, my--wait a minute. That's very rude of you, you know!?"

"Says YOU, Tommy. But you have a point--you have a point, I'll give you that much. The village we went to before... a few weeks ago, it had a tailor, a cleric, a librarian, and maaaybe a blacksmith? That'll save us weeks of work."

It took another half hour--no, thats not an exaggeration--for Techno to finish explaining his plan to Tommy, and by then they were practically at each other's throats. You popped your knuckles and put away your writing supplies, in favor of gently blowing at the ink on the page. You don't want to blow too hard, see, or you smear the ink around and ruin the text. THAT particular tidbit of knowledge had been instinctive, for whatever reason.

Tommy and Techno were STILL arguing when you looked back up at them. You sighed and skimmed over the page carefully, checking for any typos. Organize, take inventory, make diamond gear, mine netherite, find enchanted books, craft potions, and make food. Half of that could be condensed into the trip to the village, but you left it anyway--it would just be more messy to try and change it.

You chanced another look up when you heard their voices raise, Tommy's crackling with heat and anger while Techno shouted in his usual monotone--and then you watched the door slam as Tommy threw his emerald blocks at Techno's feet and stormed out. You even saw it coming, but the noise startled you so badly you heard the paper in your fingers rip and the scabs on your stomach crackle. 

You gasped silently, one hand falling to your stomach to cradle it as if that would ease the dull burn while the other grasped the parchment. You stared down at your ruined work in dismay, but took a few careful breaths, trying to calm the muscles at your stomach--the pain made them twitch and jump, and then that caused more pain, and it was just a vicious cycle that left you squeezing your eyes shut until it slowly faded.

Techno muttered under his breath, his eyes trained at his boots and his fingers slowly combing through his scalp as he paced. He was talking to the voices, you figured. Still, it takes two for an argument to escalate like that, and as you straightened cautiously, you couldn't help but feel a prickle of annoyance. 

When he looked up at you, you made a point to glare at him reproachfully, then jerk your chin toward the door--ow, FUCK, you forgot about our neck. 

Techno extracted his fingers from the now-tangled locks and snorted. "Nah, nah nah. I'm not his keeper--we're barely allies. He's responsible for himself." He muttered, fidgeting with the cuff of his shirt again while he picked a path out of the mess to walk over to you. 

He nudged you to scoot over. You complied, though you did shoot him an annoyed look while you moved the gapples aside and scooted your back to lean against the chests. There was an entire room, pal, and this spot wasn't exactly the most spacious. Techno straddled the chest with a sigh, surprisingly unfazed by the proximity. 

You hauled your left leg up and over with a soft wince, so you could face him better. You, uh, weren't distracted at all by his knee brushing against yours or anything, no no. You flipped over the ruined piece of paper to write on, biting your cheek while you considered what to say. And you didn't lose your focus halfway through writing because you could feel him watching, waiting for you to finish your message. 

You set down the quill before pressing the paper to his chest, then crossing your arms and ignoring the twinge of pain. 'Outside is cold and dark. What if he needs you?'

Techno raised a brow, then dragged his skepticism from your annoyed look to the paper in his hands. He handed it back a moment later, then began to brush his fingers through his hair. "If Tommy needs anythin', it's basic human decency. You don't just steal from someone, an' then steal MORE from them when they don't ask for the first stuff back."

'He needs a person. A friend."

Techno craned his head to the side to read it, his brow furrowing--you had the sudden urge to smooth out that crease with your fingertips, like a dumb dummy. You smothered the thought.

"Well, he betrayed me, for starters. And then he stole from me--and insulted me--and dug under my house--and then tried to call it HIS house--and then threatened my guest--and then stole more from me, and insulted me more."

He... had some good points. Still...

'I pointed a sword at you when we met, in case you forgot.' You echoed back.

He shook his head, but he was smiling a little when he read it and said: "You haven't betrayed my trust yet, and I'm pretty sure you haven't stolen anythin'. Unless you're a reeeally good thief." He half-teased, his eyes not leaving yours.

'Well I did steal from Dream, apparently.' 

He guffawed, his wide grin showing off those sharp canines. Unfortunately his smile fell a moment later, replaced by his usual seriousness. "Speakin' of Dream, and I'm sorry to bring it up but we--we haven't exactly had a moment to talk about anythin' that's happened--"

You nodded, tugging at the furs under your fingers to distract yourselves from the familiar, twisting anxiety that began to gnaw on your chest. 

Techno noticed, you saw his gaze drop down and then back up to you, but he didn't comment and for that you were grateful. "Did you figure out why Dream is lookin' for you? What he's after?"

The smell of damp, cold stone. Blood, metallic and dull. The eyes of the mask stared into you and straight through you at the same time--you could recall the sensation of something Other trying to worm its way into your thoughts. The voices. The book, the names, the guilt--you wanted to tell him, but you were terrified he'd see it as a betrayal--his words from a minute ago echoed in your head, haunted you. You shuddered, your nails scraping through the clumps of fur.

Techno's fingers twitched across from you, tangled together in his lap. Hesitation flickered on his face, and when your distant gaze turned to him he looked... torn. Reluctant to press forward with his questions. "You have to have some kind of history with him, right? But I never saw you before you showed up here, not even once. You can't remember anythin', before you came here?"

You shook your head. Nothing but shouting, and fear, and exhaustion, and pain, and the dull ache of the cold. Breathe, you reminded yourself. But you WERE breathing, you just--you just physically couldn't make your lungs expand any more. You hated this feeling, hated that you couldn't go a day without experiencing this. 

P̻̏̎̐̾̒à̴̘͙̘͚̹̼͍͔ͪ̂ͨ̀ͫ̃͢t̸̤͓̫̙̥̽̓ͦͨ̑̍̄ẖ̶̼̟̺̝͎̥̟ͯ̑̐̍e͉͎ͪͅṱ͕͔̫̺͈̦̑̎̿̔͆ì̙͙̙̼̠͖̟̓̃̆ͫ͐̌͠ç̶̞̫͎̬̞̪̆̈́͐ͫͪͨͣ̏. The voices hissed sweetly. They slithered at the base of your skull and along your ears, almost too quiet to hear. 

You shivered again. The book, Dream wanted a book. He said it was important and YOU took it--where is it? 

W̸̛͚̺͌͛̅̃̔̄ͥḪ̖̪̭̐̃ͨ̍͑̓͒ͫ̒E̸̷̪̟̗̩̔ͮR̰̞̼̠͔͐̽̋ͬͩͣ̎E̷̞̗͇̱̎̅͆ͦ̀̾͡ ͔̻̫̣̗̣̇̆ͯ͝Ï̊ͯ͋ͯ͜͏̗̹̤̬Ś̰̙͌ͥ͋̊͞͠ ̢̦̙͕̫̩̝̽̽ͫ͛͞I̡̯̹̖̓͒͛̀ͅͅͅT̎ͫͫͩͭ͊ͩͮ҉̡̪̖̮̜͙̳!̫̹͍̃̂ͣͧ̕͠?̷̴̦̯̼͚̥͇̭̞̎̑

Techno's hand fell over yours. You snapped your gaze up, wide-eyed with shock, and... something about the mixture of concern you found there, and the warmth of his skin against yours, burned away the voices like mist. You sucked in a shuddering breath, your shoulders slumping like a puppet's strings being cut in slow motion.

As you sat there and just breathed for a moment, your panic faded into pleasant surprise. This--the hand thing--was unfamiliar, but infinitely comforting. You appreciated the gesture, and therefore you turned your hand over and squeezed his back with a thankful smile. Y'know, to show your gratitude.

"This means nothin', alright?" Techno warned you. But the tension draining from his shoulders like water from a sponge spoke volumes. "If Tommy comes back, this means nothin.'" He amended a moment later, though the effect was kinda ruined by the shine in his eyes. And then he squeezed your hand again. 

You smiled at him, resisting a heavy yawn, before tugging his hand closer to your face to take a closer look at his rings. It gave you an excuse if Tommy walked in, that's what you told yourself. Techno humored you with a bemused smile, his fingers shifting under your attention. You could see his gaze skimming over your face from your periphery, but you decided to humor him, too. 

After scrutinizing the flashy array of red and gold for a minute, turning his hand this way and that to get a better look, you flicked your eyes up to meet his. You didn't mean for it to, but it caught him him off guard, and in that little half-second you saw... softness? That deeeefinitely didn't warm you from the inside-out, hah. 

You cleared your throat against the pesky lump growing there, and ignore it in favor of tapping one of his rings, then looking back up with a raised brow. What? You were curious! And it made for a lovely distraction from the mess you were in, if you think about it.

He mirrored you by leaning a little closer, hmmming like he had to think about it. He tugged both of your twined hands back toward him, throwing you off balance with just the ghost of a grin. 

You narrowed your eyes at him but... couldn't help a smile of your own. It was... it was nice, when he used body language like you did. Like he was making an effort to speak your language, to level the playing field. Maybe you were reading too much into it.

"Well this one--" his fingers curled around yours absentmindedly. "--this one's from a tourney I won in the Far. It was a mess, the organizers were incompetent and absolute fools, but some of the events were good. I met Phil there, actually."

It was your turn to hum, your attention flitting between the flashing jewels in your hand and his eyes. You thought back to last night, before Tommy made his abrupt entrance. Is this what would've happened if he hadn't shown up? ...No, probably not. Both of you had been exhausted and you were in so much pain--you still were, really, but the close proximity to Techno had, admittedly, made you a bit numb to it. 

This was better. 

He idly toyed with the ink-stained pad of your index finger, waiting patiently for you to tap the next ring. "That one's from bein' the reignin' champion of a different competition. If someone wins more than 1,818 games of it in a row, they'll get it from me."

You snorted, shifting on the furs until you realized he--he was being serious. Your eyes widened in a mixture of awe and newfound respect. You knew he was skilled, but that was... You took a closer look at the ring, to see what such a title got him. It was mostly dark, bloody red gems--they kinda reminded you of pomegranate seeds, not that you could think of what a pomegranate even tasted like. Gods, your memory could be frustrating.

"And this one's taller than the others, right--it's higher up so if I'm fightin' with my fists I don't have to worry so much about the other ones crackin.' It's sorta like a shield."

You hummed and nodded again, brushing your fingers over his knuckles. You turned his palms over and traced the callouses with a feather-light touch. They tickled at your fingertips, almost the same sensation as skimming your fingers through the foamy waves weeks ago. You smiled, partly at the ticklish feeling and partly at the memories, how much had changed.

All guise of just 'inspecting his jewelry' was gone now, you supposed. You risked a look up at him to check if he was still relaxed, if he was alright with this. He dragged his attention from your intwined hands to meet your gaze and blinked tiredly. The pieces clicked when you traced a swirl over his palm and realized: it was making him sleepy. 

...Awwwwwwwwwee--

"Don't look at me like that," He grumped. 

You snickered and went back to your little patterns, growing drowsy yourself at the simple... comfort of it? Nothing sensual, nothing... nothing more than the feel of another person, one you can trust, sharing their space with you. 

You yawned a few moments later. The fight against the lead weights tied to your eyelids was a valiant one, but you earned victory with a shake of your head. Sleep is for the weak.

Techno copied your yawn a heartbeat later, and when he narrowed his eyes at you they flashed with fond annoyance. "You did this to me, y'know. Yawns are--" he yawned again, groaning. "--yawns are contagious. C'mon, it's time for bed." 

His hand didn't leave yours when he stood; you could've pulled away and packed your things a little quicker but you'd rather not break the contact. He didn't seem to mind the extra wait, he simply stood there yawning a few more times. And when you finally threw the book and quill and ink and gapples in your bag, he gave a ghost of a smile.

The two of you slowly picked through the disastrous state of the storage room, a much better alternative to him just hovering behind you and oozing worry, like he had earlier that day. You gave the mess one last glance before Techno shut the door quietly. When it didnt quite close right, Techno sighed out: "Tommy leaves doors open every time he goes through em, and the one time he closes it--the one time he does the decent thing, he breaks it."

You grinned, but speaking of Tommy... you looked out a the landscape, your eyes scrunched as if that might help you see in the darkness. It didn't, for the record, but you didn't need great eyesight to notice the hordes of monsters lurking outside the loose perimeter of torches around the cabin. 

Techno must've seen too, because he herded you up the stairs with more urgency than before, his grip purposefully, carefully tight so you wouldn't slip. Maybe if you weren't so tired you'd be annoyed that he thought you needed the help... but your pride would sting more if you fell on your ass like a senior citizen, so you sucked it up and took the steps one at a time. 

The both of you only parted after he closed and barred the doors behind you (such a sweet sorrow, you thought, as the warmth of his skin faded within seconds). While Techno'd checked the cabin for anything amiss, you shuffled over to your bed and tossed your pack to the floor. 

Tommy snored across the room, sound asleep, with one hand tangled in the green bandana around his neck like a lifeline; the little shit hadn't wandered far, it seemed, but he could've bothered to check back in--you you'd been worried. Or maybe he didn't think you would be, and as heartbreaking as it was, you suspected that might be the closest answer. He seemed to see the worst in people.

The next day went smoother--but not because of Techno suddenly growing some emotional intelligence, or Tommy sprouting newfound maturity or manners.

No, they avoided each other like the plague. Tommy went off to who-knows-where as soon as he finished his breakfast, and while the quiet was... so nice and peaceful, worry had wormed at the back of your mind when Techno had checked up on your wounds, and even when you'd started on the storage room again. What if Tommy didn't come back? What if he died some horrible death, alone and afraid? You couldn't explain it, but... despite just how rough the kid was around the edges, you held an intrinsic urge to keep an eye on him.

Still, in his absence, you and Techno worked twice as well to finish sorting the rest of the piles, dumping the contents in their proper chests, and then labeling each one with the item frames from the day before. It took most of the day anyway, because you had to take inventory while Techno did the heavier lifting, but by the end? The satisfaction of the neatness of the chests and the empty floor more than made up for your aching neck.

Techno tossed the bag of golden apples at the foot of your makeshift seat--he'd taken them to count a few minutes ago. "Forty-two," He informed you.

You scribbled the number down, then shut the book with a wide grin and a dusty thud. Done!

He barely smiled back, but that didn't surprise you. He'd seemed distant all day, like something preoccupied his mind. As he glanced at the door again, you figured you knew why.

You wiped off the quill on the back of your hand (they were already stained to hell, so what was a little more, right?) and capped the inkwell. You were busy putting the rest of your stuff away, so you didn't bother to look up when Techno moved over to a chest and dug something out of it.

When you got to your feet and slung your back over your shoulder, Techno was waiting for you. He was closer than you thought he'd be, between you and the door, leaning on a shield. It was painted in two tones of icy blue, with a large white emblem in the center. It reminded you of his old clothes, actually. He rapped on the front for emphasis, before he said: "I want you to have this."

You raised your brows and took another look at it. Why..?

"We don't know when Dream is comin' back and I--I'd rather not leave you without somethin' to defend yourself." He explained, as if that answered everything. He held it out to you, then rolled his eyes and nudged your good leg when you didn't reach for it. "Take it. It'll guard your left leg, and you can use it without hurtin' your other arm too much."

Ah. In that case... You smiled at him as you took it, testing the weight on your arm. Not too heavy for you, but you could still tell the quality by its weight. You looked back to him and nodded your gratitude; it was a thoughtful gift. 

Techno's gaze slid from the shield to your soft grin. His cheeks darkened, for some reason, and he turned away and cleared his throat before he managed a: "No problem." He didn't say anything else... but he did hold his arm out to help you walk.

You set the shield against your back and patted his forearm in consolation, though you couldn't help your silent cackle.

He glared down at you balefully, but no real heat, before the two of you made your way outside. You turned to the horizon while you waited for Techno to close the door again behind the two of you. The golden light warmed your face and drew a pleased sigh from your lips. This was the best part of the day, you decided. 

"What about one of the Hesperides? As a name."

That... got your attention. You looked over to see Techno standing at your left, staring out at the horizon like you'd been. His arm was already out again for you to hold onto again, and your hand fell against his naturally.

You nudged him with your elbow as if to tell him to go on. Because, frankly, you didn't know what the hell a 'Hesperide' was. 

He looked down at you and cleared his throat again. "Oh, I forgot you--you don't... They were nymphs of sunset, and I--" he hesitated a moment, looking back to the spectacular display of golds and oranges. His voice was just a touch softer when he admitted, "I noticed you like sunsets."

You opened your mouth and closed it again, floored by five simple words. You could only follow his gaze back to the horizon and slide your hand over his to squeeze lightly.

He shifted on his feet, something equally relaxed and anxious radiating from him. "Nymphs were sorta like... somewhere between humans and gods, and all of them--well maybe not all, but most--were associated with nature of some kind."

You nodded along encouragingly. His rambling was music to your ears.

"It's kinda ironic actually, because they--they guarded these suuuper important golden apples and you... you're guardin' some yourself." You smiled at that, and saw him to the same out of the corner of your eye. 

"Some versions say there were only three, and others say there were up to seven, but the way I heard it, there were four: Aigle, Erytheia, Arethusa, and Hesperia. Do any of those--any of 'em click for you?"

You shook your head, slowly. They were beautiful, and the thought Techno put into the suggestion was... it was sweet. He obviously cared about finding a name that fit--and you did too. But as beautiful as it was, it didn't strike you as yours. 

"Thats alright," Techno said easily. "We'll just keep tryin'. Somethin' tells me you'll find one that makes you happy--one that'll make you feel whole. Eventually."

You turned to look at him in surprise, and as you admired the golden light bathing his features, you had the loveliest, scariest realization:

You... you'd found something like that already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> phew! its been a while, huh? i hope i havent lost too many of you because of the hiatus, but now that things are settled down again im going to try to update every friday or saturday night! i also, of course, hope you enjoyed this fluffy lil chapter because it was sort of an apology for making yall wait so long lol. exciting things to come soon, so stay tuned! and as always i THRIVE on your feedback, from kudos to comments to whatever it is, so if you feel like it? tell me your thoughts! oki bye again for now, bUT NOT FOR AS LONG THIS TIME I SWEAR--


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